Riddles
by anesor
Summary: NWN2 OC, How would the various OC companions answer riddles? Each chapter is a separate riddle, born of a boring moment and curiosity.
1. Glass Halffull or Halfempty?

_This collection of riddles are all independent of each other, and are the kind of thing you might talk about during a boring late night watch. Not a single one of the characters is mine, and they were asked a simple question..._

**Is the Glass Half-full or Half-empty?**

**Ammon:** It depends completely on whether the appearance of liquid in the appearance of the glass has been bound properly unto this plane. Selecting either option may allow some infernal an advantage and distract you from your mission.

* * *

**Bishop:** Who cares? It's my glass, sod off.

* * *

**Casavir:** It doesn't matter, I will cherish and protect it.

* * *

**Elanee:** A glass is a useless, fragile item and wasteful. If it is potable, add it to your waterskin and leave the glass to city-dwellers.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Well, Commander, that can be a very serious question. Many hero's quests have begun with just such a simple question. One bard, Finder Wyvernspur, was faced with that choice from a beautiful maiden in a tale I heard that goes like this...

((Sings all fifty-seven verses, drinking the glass absent-mindedly after forty-five))

* * *

**Khelgar:** More damned riddles? If its not a good, Iron-fist sized tankard, I'm not interested.

* * *

**Neeshka:** Let me just check for traps... (and confirm there aren't any diamonds in the liquid) first...

((pouring and filtering liquid through fingers, finding a gem, and pocketing it))

Full or empty of what, again?

* * *

**Sand: **It depends on your frame of reference. Does 'full' measure the liquid or the air in said container? Is there even a glass or liquid present as it could be the result of an illusion or drunken delusion. Is there some sort of legal or tactical requirement that dictates the level of the liquid in the described container? Is this riddle passing through time, or is it a snapshot? If the liquid is one of several types, becoming empty is only a matter of time...

--Bishop drinks the glass--

Sand: Empty.

* * *

**Shandra:** It will probably explode into a thousand pieces if you're nearby. I'll just hide behind someone's shield until then.

* * *

**Qara:** Is it water? Then I don't care, neither burns.

* * *

**Zjhaeve: ** First you have to believe that there is even a glass or that there is, indeed a liquid in it. My people have freed themselves from far worse chains than others' faith in powers. I am not thirsty and you can believe as you wish.

* * *

**Construct: --CLANK--**


	2. Lady or the Tiger?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked a question on a late-night watch:_

_A harsh barbarian king gets his jollies watching the accused in a trial choose, unknowing, between instant death and rich reward. But a commoner dared to become his daughter's lover, so he was condemned to this spectacle. The princess discovered which door had the fierce tiger, and which had another lady to marry. The princess is fierce as well, and harsh as her father, that what is hers, is hers alone, but she also is very...attached to her young and handsome lover._

**Which door does she hint her lover towards: the Lady or the Tiger?**

**Ammon:** The tiger. The lover has served his purpose. She can easily find another to bend to her needs.

* * *

**Bishop:** The tiger. If he can't defeat some captured animal, he doesn't deserve to live. What's the other wench look like, anyway?

* * *

**Casavir:** It is not a just trial. This précis of the crimes involved is woefully incomplete, and the outcome has no relationship to the guilt or the weight of the crime. The princess subverting the trial process only deepens the problem.

I am sorry, Commander, I must choose? The lady. That outcome allows the time for investigation and reform.

* * *

**Elanee:** Barbaric humans customs. Surely, there is a better way...? --sighs-- The tiger, for such a harsh and spoiled princess would not value the lives of those around her.

* * *

**Grobnar:** That is so sad a story. Wasn't there a riddle song about that problem once? I think that one asked if the lover would even follow her advice. Most listeners want a happy ending or very tragic one. Adding a verse where a wendersnaven eats the tiger or the other lady, usually gets you chased out of the tavern... I know.

* * *

**Khelgar:** The lady. There is no point killing a lover once their time is over. There is no fairness in causing his death. He must have been a fine young man to keep her attention, and why deprive the clan of him and his children?

* * *

**Neeshka:** She couldn't arrange a ladder, or net or something for him to escape?

Stupid rich girl. The lady, of course. He stole into the princess' bedroom, why not continue that with a rich wife?

* * *

**Sand:** I suppose next watch you will be asking about the chicken and the egg? No, no, I will answer the question, it is far better entertainment than contemplating our companions' snores.

I suppose the sub-question is if this princess wishes to continue or reward her liaison with the commoner, of if she is petty like it seems her father is. Choosing either only validates the father's interference in her affairs. On a dynastic note, how would she expect to gain a loyal consort if this is how they to be rewarded? I would assume that she expects to keep her meddling a secret, or she will lose whatever political game it looks like she and her father have started...

Keep it short? I suppose the lady. On a practical level, both are likely to outlive the king, especially if he continues to kill his warriors in such an undisciplined and wasteful way. Once queen, she can set her own law, as irrationally as the King's.

* * *

**Shandra: ** The lady. He doesn't deserve to be killed for being with the princess. He would deserve a better goodbye gift than dying.

* * *

**Qara:** Have you been spending too much time with that idiot gnome again? Riddles? What good are they?

No, I don't need some tome-footstool to know the answer, the tiger. That way she controls her own power without her father or lover putting limits on her.

* * *

**Zjhaeve:** Know that the princess is already doomed, having fallen to the corruption of her father's court, to treat these lives as pawns for power.

Clarify? Of course. The way she is described, makes the tiger more likely, as she treats her subjects as cattle.

There is no purpose here, to serve either kingdom or people, only pettiness of the king's control and her desires. Unless one of them matures, I would expect further unrest until one or both are gone. The lover is only a token of the larger struggle.


	3. What Would You Refuse to Do?

_Language warning! Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked another question on a late-night watch sometime during the war:_

**What wouldn't you do for a million gold pieces?**

**Ammon:** What makes you think I haven't had that kind of wealth already? Do you think I built my Haven on a shoe string?

Very little, if I felt the need for a large sum of money for my goals. Money can substitute for so many other kinds of power. Enough money can buy power, or the services of those with power for a far smaller cost than other kinds of contracts.

--sighs and looks away-- Kinslaying. I never wanted to do that, and thought I had left them well situated and safe.

* * *

**Bishop:** A million? Nasher's been giving you a bigger allowance than I thought. Many things, like... certain people in this group I'd do for free... Nothing, there's nothing I wouldn't do for that kind of freedom. Who do you want dead?

What? Fuck no! I wouldn't wear chains, or shackles, become shiny-good, or any of that bullshit! You didn't say that in your original question, 'commander.' Nice trap, but I'm not biting.

* * *

**Casavir:** Interesting question, Commander. That kind of wealth does give many opportunities for philanthropy and charity, though even having that much money would invite tempation. But actions I wouldn't do to gain wealth like that? The list would be in some ways endless: starting with evil acts as a group, cruelty, betrayal... -pause- deliberately harming someone I cared for, oathbreaking...

It may be simpler to determine those few things that I would be willing to do for wealth. They would have to be monies earned through my own actions, in a way that does not conflict with good, law, or the codes of my faith. As few jobs like that, would offer that kind of wealth, it seems unlikely.

Charity money, if I did something embarrassing, though safe for all, like...?

Oh.

Would I be allowed to seek guidance first? No?

Only embarrassment, I might do that. But I am concerned that that kind of reward is corrupting, in and of itself, even if the acts are not. I will need to contemplate that in my prayers, thank you for your question.

* * *

**Elanee:** --shaking her head-- There are so many things I would not do. Money such as that, cannot really buy anything that is truly important. Money cannot help a pit of necromancy or blighted area, it cannot help the plants and creatures thrive, it cannot even give the joy of a well-made gift for a loved one. A small portion of that kind of money could be useful for certain required tasks out in the human world, but beyond that, it becomes meaningless. It has no greater meaning than the gold of the waning year's leaves.

* * *

**Grobnar:** A million? I don't know if any kingdom has ever had that many coins in any legend I remember. How would you even carry it? What could you do with it? Throw a year long party for the city, maybe with singing and dancing every night. Every bard would be able to write the music they like without worrying about patrons, I guess. I could hire a Waterdhavian to make a Wendersnaven themed libretto.

What wouldn't I do? Well it is a serious question, not silly-fun like the water glass one. I wouldn't become a gloomy sourpuss, life is still too short to be as bitter or sad as some we know. They've forgotten simple joys and childhood games. I won't. I won't stop trying, as each smile, even if they don't think they like the joke, lightens the shadows. I wouldn't write something mean or cruel, especially about my friends.

I guess that's pretty much it, I won't give up trying and I won't be mean. Silly, stupid, or awkward? I've done those things so often accidentally or deliberately they don't bother me anymore. -grins- Often all I get for my efforts, is the groans and threats from my audience. That's fine, because they've had a moment of freedom from their own problems. If they like it, even better.

* * *

**Khelgar:** I would not do anything to hurt my clan, whether some of them believe that or not. I would not betray my oaths to my clan, to Tyr, or to my friends. I would not give up my ale, permanently. Though I might be able to for a time, money like that would help my clan rebuild to greatness. I would not give up the occasional brawl, they're much too fun.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Wow! A million? This would be in something easier to carry, like gems, right? Good. Now what I would do. What I would not do? I dunno, you know I'm pretty flexible about these things. I can't think of too much, that's a lot of shiny trophies. It wouldn't be as much fun to buy my toys, but I wouldn't mind.

What wouldn't I do... I guess I wouldn't become a boring little scribe or shopkeeper. I wouldn't turn on my friends, I haven't had that many. I can always find another mark, but friends? I couldn't join the army or watch, almost all of 'em must have had their humor removed with a mace. Anything boring, or reeks of poverty. Definitely anything boring, no way.

Well yeah, for its own sake, casing a mansion is usually boring, but that's a challenge.

Huh, that's more things, than I thought I wouldn't do.

* * *

**Qara**: Finally a question about something real. I can't think of much off hand. That kind of money and I could buy a seat and tenure at the academy, and make those girls' lives hell. Or maybe start my own school, with out the stupid books and rote numskulls. Then I'd get the respect I deserve.

Don't mistake me, peasant, some things I wouldn't do. I wouldn't give up the sweet thrill of my power. Wouldn't walk with a crutch, like books, when I can fly like the birds. Wouldn't choose to associate with the little people, like a swamp rat like you, or that slimy ranger.

There are a great many things I would do, for the power of that wealth.

* * *

**Sand**: That question has an interesting phrasing, I find I'm actually curious as to what the others have answered. Hmm, I can understand your wishing to understand this collection of... people. They all do have their uses, excepting that idiot girl. She only could have gotten enrolled in the academy through bribery or extortion. This allows me the consolation that it is not my school, whose very reputation is at risk for her petulance.

Ahem. The question. As open ended as you've made it, the list could go on for hours if you wish a detailed accounting, but I can be brief. I wouldn't break my word, perjure myself, or the like. I wouldn't abrogate my chosen responsibilities. I'm not one to try to save the world, like the young paladin, but the duties and responsibilities I do accept, I take very seriously. I do admit I have duty to others and my fields. I would not wish ill on others just for their existence. I'm indifferent, unless and until they've done something to earn my ire. So the darker uses of Law, such as slavery I find abhorrent, and I would not support, nor even tolerate that. I would not repeat certain mistakes I've made over the centuries, which eventually became truly distasteful. I would not forgo my studies of magic, and my studies of legal custom and politics would be short-sighted to abstain from...

Summarize? These things I just would not choose to do: forswear myself, fail my duties, and support or encourage vile practices. The amount of gold doesn't really matter, a hundred, a thousand, a million. I would not do them. If I was forced to it, there is no free will, and no soul debt.

My dear Commander, that is true. I would not kiss the idiot girl. But that fits both failing my duty to the field of magic and be a particularly vile practice.

* * *

**Shandra:** A million? That's a thousand thousand, right? Enough to buy estates and a title somewhere.

Or rebuild my farm, and start that shipping thing my mother always wanted to do. Bur what wouldn't I do for that kind of wealth? There's a lot of things you people do, I don't want to do. I'm hoping we find out why my farm was destroyed, so I can get back to real life and rebuild my family legacy. I wouldn't become a near vagabond adventurer, like you have. No offense.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: Know that I do not require such a mass of heavy metal. Where my people are from is a place of no space, where thought rules and souls visit, or pass through on their final journey. A lump of metal has no value there, value is only in the mind of the observer. Know that this question has little to no meaning.

What wouldn't I do for some object of great value, like a silver sword?

You know that already, I would live in exile, in hopes of preventing its return to the Lich Queen, and returning it home eventually.

* * *

_A/N: Even dementia yields to lucidity once in a while..._


	4. Why is a Raven?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked a quick riddle in a slow moment:_

**How is a Raven Like a Writing Desk?**

**Ammon:** Now that question is just precious. You should be thinking about more important things than trivia like this. Time is passing, quickly now.

* * *

**Bishop:** ((glares))

* * *

**Casavir:** I'm afraid I do not see any similarity, aside from the trivial one that they are both physical objects. Is there some other aspect they have in common?

* * *

**Construct:** Clank! (Grinding noise..))

* * *

**Elanee:** Both have some affinity to wizards and sorcerers.

* * *

**Grobnar:** At last! A proper riddle! One I hadn't heard before, let me think. There are like ones, but... No, no, that won't work. ((smiles)) I give up, how?

* * *

**Khelgar:** Ha! You're back to the silly riddles again. A fine way for the children or the old to while away long winter evenings, but we have many other duties to tend to these days.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Both are good places to find shiny things, in or on them, in a nest or bedroom.

* * *

**Qara**: They both burn nicely.

* * *

**Sand**: Simpler this time, Commander? Because they both have inky quills.

* * *

**Shandra:** I don't know, what does it matter? Mine are both gone now.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: Unless this desk is some kind of mimic, they have nothing really in common. The raven has a small intelligence and spirit, while a desk is only an object, easily created and just as easily destroyed.

* * *

_A/N: Anyone want to complain about the riddle, see that scruffy ranger over there and fill out that tiny form with your full complaint; he lost a bet..._


	5. Can You Take It With You?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their Lady Commander asked a question during a pause in the action:_

**When you go into the afterlife, do you wear the clothes you were buried in forever?**

**Ammon:** I don't expect any comfort such as clothing where I'm going, for a very, very long time. Unless I can make some other advantageous deal.

* * *

**Bishop:** There ain't anything after, its all a bunch of delusions and power trips of the so-called faithful. You're living, then you're dead, that's all. The monsters, insects, or animals get a good meal off your corpse, even as it rots.

Was that a shiver, 'Commander?' Clothing's not the _only_ thing to keep you warm...

* * *

**Casavir:** No, I would think not. As whatever purpose you serve there, may require something else. Guiding others, reflecting, protecting, I do not believe those purposes would be served by clothing usually provided for burials.

* * *

**Elanee:** Whatever clothing your shell wears does not matter, when you join the gods, you will have only what nature made you, exactly as when you were born. No extra coverings, fakery, or useless decadence will go with you.

* * *

**Grobnar:** That would make it hard to do different performances, as I'd wouldn't have any different props or instruments. It would be a real mess if I died from getting eaten and didn't get buried at all. So I hope its not forever, even my favorite costume would get boring.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Are you sure you don't have a concussion, lass? To be talkin' of death right now? You're serious?

Yes, the clothing and grave goods buried with you are a measure of the honor and respect you earned with your life. That respect is yours forever, even if your remains are buried or burnt.

* * *

**Neeshka**: I can be buried in special clothing? Wow! Can I choose? Maybe something pretty, and comfortable... emerald green or sapphire with jewels dripping.

Oh, I dunno, I really don't know what'll happen when I die, I hope its not boring. I'm not faithless or anything. I call on Tymora and Mask enough, even if I'm not dedicated or anything. I sure hope there's clothing, as forever is a long time to be chilly.

* * *

**Qara**: I should hope so! That's why I want the best, so I always get the respect I deserve. So everyone knows what they lost when I die, and everyone remembers me as they should.

* * *

**Sand**: I suppose it had to come to a question like this, where the philosophical and theological concerns reduce down to only what clothes a soul after the their time here is over. I'm sure some of the others' answers went to the obvious or even crude, but this depends on what substance a soul partake of and whether clothing even has any meaning at that point.

Of course, anything buried with the deceased, doesn't go anywhere, any more than their remains. However, symbols and belief are part of the planes, so they cannot hurt. But no I do not believe I would be condemned to wear the same robes for all eternity. If clothing is even of relevance, even my favorite robes, would become a too-familiar torture over time.

* * *

**Shandra:** I don't own any clothing I'd want to be in forever, so I hope I can get something else to wear.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: No, your soul will be clothed according to the strength of your spirit and will. Funeral goods have no weight in the afterlife. There may be congruence, if your husk was garbed as you felt most comfortable, but your eventual destination and how you get there will depend on you, not on what those left behind do, or don't do, believe, or don't believe. Funerary clothing is for the mourners comfort, not yours.

* * *


	6. Can You Catch Flies?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked a quick question in a slow moment:_

**Can you catch flies?**

**Ammon:** No. ((smiles)) But I can order them to line up in formations and attack a spider in its web.

* * *

**Bishop:** Yeah, so what? The harder part, is to find a fine enough thread to tie them to something. How do you like the thread tying you to the city, Harborman?

* * *

**Casavir:** Yes, but it is simpler when the weather is cool or they are slow from feeding. Do these flies carry a disease?

* * *

**Elanee:** I could, if I wished. Far better to use a salve or even a spell to convince them to seek food elsewhere, and more useful for them and myself.

* * *

**Grobnar:** I believe I could, but why would I want to? I couldn't train them for some kind of performance, though I suppose I could send a lot of them to pester someone who's ticklish when they're out of armor...

* * *

**Khelgar:** No, swatting them is good enough for an me..

* * *

**Neeshka**: Ooh, sure! But I won twenty gold once betting which one would get from a apple core to some ale.

* * *

**Qara**: They make lovely little shooting stars, you know, falling in the sky. Why catch them?

* * *

**Sand**: Yes. That is a remarkably uninteresting question, Commander. I am disappointed.

* * *

**Shandra:** Only if they hold still.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: What purpose would that serve? Each life has a purpose, even theirs. Pay more mind to your own.

* * *


	7. What Can You Give and Yet Keep?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked a riddle to pass the time on watch:_

**What is it that you can keep, after giving to someone else?**

**Ammon:** You obviously are not giving me any patience, even if you seem to have more than your share with these... others and their foibles.

(Slow, wintery smile) Blood, as long as you haven't 'given' too much. Perhaps you'd like to give me a pint for some additional conjuring?

* * *

**Bishop:** The point of my blade. They won't need it after I've given it to them.

* * *

**Casavir:** My pledge for your support, my Lady. Always.

* * *

**Elanee:** My regard, child.

* * *

**Grobnar:** A song, instruction, a cheerful thought, the tune in my heart. I can give it to everyone I meet, and yet it is still mine.

What's your next riddle?

* * *

**Khelgar:** The word of an Ironfist..

* * *

**Neeshka**: Friendship. Even if they other person doesn't always see, or appreciate the offer.

* * *

**Qara**: .Why would I want to give away anything? Nothing is free, you have to demand your due, or people will walk all over you. Others should give me more respect.

* * *

**Sand**: Interestingly open-ended this time, despite the seeming paradox inherent in the question. I shall choose something more tangible than what the others would be likely to give you and say, a disease..

* * *

**Shandra:** I dunno if its exactly keeping it, but you can give someone a hard time, and still have plenty to give. Some around here need more of that.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: Peace of mind. Thought, or metaphysical things, can be both rare and boundless.

* * *


	8. Thinking Fast

_You know the disclaimer by now. How would the companions answer a bored female KC's question:_

_Setting: On a warm and sunny early summer day, you've decided to wash in a cheerfully burbling stream in an open meadow. Your clothing and equipment are a little too far away when you get unexpected company. What do you grab to cover or protect yourself?_

**What do you grab?**

**Ammon:** Perhaps you need to visit one of the festhalls when you return to the city, if this is the kind of thing you think about when on a mission. Or better yet, take up with that one over there and scratch the itch, and get back to work.

* * *

**Bishop:** Why, you, Captain. Anyone else, and Karnwyr would have warned me, as always. But, I believe I would be doing the covering.

* * *

**Casavir:** How deep is the water? Oh.

* * *

**Elanee:** If I felt the need, I would shift to an animal form, and escape. (smile) As they are so rarely clothed in anything but fur

* * *

**Grobnar:** Ah... Oh, my. That is an interesting question. The only thing that I can think of, with both my clothing and my instruments so far away is a spring bunny, as long as I am careful.

Of course, that would make quite a humorous piece, perhaps along the lines of the folk tale about the woman cursed to speak, producing toads with her words, changing it to white bunnies. I could recast it as an infectious round. Yes, that would be quite the tune to cheer people up around here. I'll let you know when its done.

* * *

**Khelgar:** I would continue to get my weapon or armor, I'm not about to be concerned about them seeing an Ironfist in all his glory, as long as its not an enemy.

* * *

**Casavir:** Are there any rushes or water lilies? Hmm. I must think on it more.

* * *

**Neeshka**: There's gotta be a bank for me to get some cover to hide behind.

* * *

**Qara**: I'll just fry the intruder for bothering me, and continue my bath.

* * *

**Sand**: Well, I suppose this explains where the bard got the idea for his latest fit of composition. But really, my dear girl, did you have to inspire him to such lengths? His "cheering tune" is liable to provoke fisticuffs in some, if not insanity in the rest of us.

I doubt I would grab anything. Body consciousness, you grow out of, once you have lived long enough. Pity more don't. And if it were not a friend, a spell for invisibility or escape would serve my purposes best.

* * *

**Shandra:** Uh, I'm not sure I'd be able to move quick enough to do anything.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: Cover or protect from what? Clothing represents protection from weather effects, of little concern from your description. Clothing may also represent the belief that parts of yourself can and should be hidden, even from friends. Protection, whether armor or magic, should have a greater meaning to you on our mission.

* * *

**Casavir:** (slight smile) Some of the hundreds of white bunnies that Grobnar left behind.

* * *

_A/N: Alternate title for this is: "Oops!" Dedicated to all the people whose humorous fics and renders out on the net, whose work is along these lines._


	9. How Will This End?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their Commander asked a question while on a late night watch after a long and weary day, late in the war:_

**How will this end?**

**Ammon:** We are working for this to be the end of this Illefarn remnant, as long as some of this group can better maintain their focus. (glares)

It is much simpler when you are willing to enforce cooperation amongst your forces, rather than this appeasement for all their varied flaws. I suppose it might give you more of their strengths as well. We will see if your strategy is more successful than mine had been.

* * *

**Bishop:** How else does it usually end, when fools and 'heroes' try to do the impossible? With their blood and death. (looking thoughtful) Are you so married to this planned suicide, for those who don't give a damn about you, except as a tool? There are many paths through a wood, including escape, "my lady."

No, this is strangely profitable and amusing to stay with you, far more than being a guide. I still have plenty of interesting things to kill, they often come conveniently to us for it. **I** will survive.

* * *

**Casavir:** I do not know, my l..Lady. I pray and hope that we will be successful in our mission, and I will do everything I can to help you. Uncertainty is a price we pay for free will, else we are only the puppets that some name us.

Know that we are held in Their hands, regardless of our personal survival.

* * *

**Elanee:** It always ends in the land recovering our very bodies to feed a new generation of life. Even if we were to fail, that growth is only slowed, as even the chill of undeath will eventually fall to life. We are trying to prevent the land and people from falling into that gulf, but we will not change that final outcome.

All of us, even the sorcerer and the foolish ranger, are agents of life, whether they wish to admit it or not.

* * *

**Grobnar:** I don't know, Commander. For every stirring victory in legend and song, there are also first tragic defeats and even tragic victories. For every hero, at least one villain. For every dark night, a brighter day. I hope our tale will be the stirring kind...

* * *

**Khelgar:** Don't worry, lass. It will end the way it's supposed to end, with us victorious over some insane elven ghost.

And even if I, mighty Ironfist that I am, or others do not survive, don't grieve long and drink a tankard in our memories!

* * *

**Neeshka**: How the hells would I know? Are you okay?

* * *

**Qara**: In fire.

Well, of course it's going to end in fire. Even bones and ((waves hand)) demons and spirits burn if the fire is magical and hot enough. I have other spells if they happen to be immune, but I'm the best there is at fire. Once they've burnt out you all can go in and finish them. There won't be much left, so it'll be easy enough for even you all to mop up.

* * *

**Sand**: No riddle this time? I am perhaps a bit disappointed. I can answer, of course philosophically, and say that it will certainly end with your soul being claimed by your patron deity, no matter the outcome of the coming battles.

Nonetheless, I will not offer the empty comfort of predicting the strategic outcome. If our victory was certain, our opponent would try in another generation. Immortality gives the ability to wait and choose a ground and time to your benefit. That we have not already been crushed is oddly encouraging, as that means our victory is still possible. If our victory were certain, he would regroup. Right now, we are in that gray, and if I may say it, shadowy area where forces are still mostly in balance. Only in that gray area, can our opponent be drawn out for destruction.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: That I do not know, but you should know that we are unlikely to all survive the coming battle with the shadow's master. You should prepare yourself, and reaffirm your beliefs in yourself and your cause, as they will strengthen you in the darkness that comes.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks to Emperor Turhan, for this question when the shadows came...(give yourself a star if you know who that is, without looking it up)_


	10. How Many Orcs?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their Lady Commander asked a quick riddle after a sunny day:_

**How Many Orcs Does It Take to Get Water From a Well?**

**Ammon:** You have far worse things to contemplate and defeat, than a few of those barbarian morons. Even they, won't need the water or the well, if you don't stop pondering these silly issues and concentrate.

Fine, fine! One or two with weapons to make some villager get it for them. Now, if you're done...

* * *

**Bishop:** Now that's just a stupid question! If you're that bored, we can amuse ourselves some other way.

* * *

**Casavir:** One. They're not stupid.

* * *

**Construct:** Ping-ng-ng-ng!

* * *

**Elanee:** I am not sure that an uneducated orc would even recognize some forms of wells, such as a covered well house or some pumped kind. I believe they rely on open and running water, and not imposing their will on the land by building constructs for their convenience. A pity their other behaviors were not as sensible.

* * *

**Grobnar:** One, two, eleven, twenty? I can see so many different answers for this one. Maybe we need to put some orcs by a well, and see how many it really takes.

* * *

**Khelgar:** A whole mess of 'em, lass. Ye see, first they have to defeat the bucket, and it all goes downhill from there.

* * *

**Neeshka**: One orc Captain... one orc shaman... one orc Lieutenant... one orc scout... one orc fighter... and one orc mama with a thirsty child who gets tired of the rank and rules bullshit and operates the winch and bucket herself. That would make six, seven if you want to include the child, who may be elsewhere skewering a toad.

* * *

**Qara**: All of them if it's winter. Oh, the well's not frozen? One, if you let the thrall have a bucket or something.

* * *

**Sand**: Hmm, plumbing the depths of prejudices and intelligence this time? For all their brutishness, they are cunning, so it is a trivial problem even for them. They are not so barbarian to pollute a well that benefits them as well. I'll assume that getting water doesn't involve anything elaborate like for opening an artesian well or activating a wind pumped fountain? Nor assume the quantity of water the orcs need is beyond say a bucketful, perhaps for each orc? Is the well dry or slow to refresh? Is water brackish or clean? Is it winter? How deep is the well? Is there a bucket or some other tool handy to raise the water? Or is magic required to free the water somehow? Are there any extreme conditions, like rain or earthquakes, that beggar the question?

The orcs performing this task, are they all hale, without infirmities or allergies to the wood in the bucket? Do they all have the same skills, like all orcish bodyguards? They aren't sea orcs who may not understand the well's purpose. Is there any special skills needed, like picking a pair of locks at the same time on opposite sides of a cover?

(blinks) I see. A full voiced ambrozian chant performance is required?

One, of course. My dear girl, I am glad to see your patience is improving. It must be from refereeing, as that was much longer than when we spoke before the Ember trial.

* * *

**Shandra:** As long as none are spoiled, wealthy brats, I'd say one.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: Do that have some kind of belief, curse, or ceremony that requires more than one? I know nothing of their beliefs that make them whole and guide their actions. One, then.

* * *


	11. What Do You Want?

_(Slight Language warning) Not a single one of the characters is mine, their leader asked this, in a brief moment after watch change:_

**What Do You Want?**

**Ammon:** I want to see the ending of the Illefarn Guardian's existence. I have worked and waited lifetimes for this, only to see most of the failsafes fall into your hands. I want you to spend less time on useless things like this, and gather more power, by any means necessary.

And stop humoring those children, and control them! It will be good practice on using power.

* * *

**Bishop:** What does any man, with working balls want? Wine, women, and cold, hard money.

You're right, that's not all I want. Freedom from chains, tyrant leaders, and others' expectations. Fresh air and open trails. Wealthy targets that bleed, be they gith or Luskan.

* * *

**Casavir:** I pray daily for this darkness to be defeated, and never be a threat again. I hope we will enjoy the fruits of our hard fought victory.

I will help with this war in any way I can, you do know that, Commander? This oath means far more to me than my life. I will not fail you.

* * *

**Elanee:** I want those that are tainting the land to be stopped. The land to be cleansed and a new Circle grow. A Circle that remembers old errors, and that guardians cannot live only in the 'now' that animals do. Elders must think not of seasons like a gourd, but eras like a redwood or the land itself. They must remember it takes more to remove the taint of unlife and infernals than preventing it.

* * *

**Grobnar:** There are so many things I would like to have, so many things large and small I'd like to see. From legendary instruments, to lost songs, to mighty deeds and happy endings, I want many things, just like everyone else.

I believe the mighty deeds are well covered with our group, even if some are less than pleasant. -smiles- And I'm sure, none would begrudge me an ancient instrument if we come upon one. Happy endings aren't given in tales and legends, they have to be earned. So, why are you asking?

* * *

**Khelgar:** I want the Ironfists to prosper, with a reputation as strong as our worth! I'd like to marry a good woman, and raise many fine clan members. I want to become a truly strong fist for both my clan and Tyr, no matter how many times I have to bounce on my ass when learning my new roles. I want to help with this 'wee' problem that keeps dogging yer path.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Piles and piles of coins, jewels and goodies just dripping off me. We've had the dripping and oozing part, but I wouldn't call **that** any fun.

I want respect. -sighs- But I also know how rarely I've gotten any outside this gang, I never would have thought to get anything like that from a paladin. I don't remember any even smiling at me when I was a kid.

* * *

**Qara**: I want the respect I am owed by my mastery of magics. I am not some ignorant child, but a mistress of fire and lightning. I want those other girls and their parents to kneel and beg for my forgiveness for the way they mocked me.

* * *

**Sand**: Want? Those urges are well under my control after these many years. Sometimes I think these lands would be milder if humans lived long enough to cultivate more patience. True, true, problems are not always sought. But I would be quite willing to wager a large sum, that the roots of the problem lie in someone not anticipating consequences and rushing ahead. We are at the bottom of a barely balanced skree slope, begun long ago. -sighs-

If my needs were that complex, do you really think I would be living in the poorer part of a primarily human city? I admit there are spells and items I still covet, even after all these years of study. But there is no rush for those. There is little I want. I want us to succeed, and I want to be able to return to my researches and study.

* * *

**Shandra:** I want to rebuild the farm. I want **things** to stop trying to kill me, and finally get some peace and quiet from your collection of freaks.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: Know that the life leeching darkness must be stopped. The relic of my people should be returned to us, though I admit I am less sure of the pieces.

* * *

_A/N: Another, perhaps mordant, question for a shadow war._


	12. What Am I?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their leader asked this question when bored:_

_You use me from your head to your toes, and the more you use me the thinner I grow..._

**What am I?**

**Ammon:** No more. -glares-

* * *

**Bishop:** Now, you really didn't think about this one, did you, to give me this on a silver platter? Sounds like a good time to me...

* * *

**Casavir:** Soap, perhaps a pumice stone or some other maintenance consumable.

* * *

**Elanee:** Insect or other repellent?

* * *

**Grobnar:** Hmm, soap? My turn, my turn! A queen bee was buzzing, a worker bee was buzzing, a honey bee was buzzing, and a giant, monstrous dire bee was buzzing. How many bees were in buzzing?

* * *

**Khelgar:** Are you sure you don't have some other thing to ponder than this?

* * *

**Neeshka**: How's your soap holding up? I should have gotten an extra bar.

* * *

**Qara**: Whatever it is, I'm sure another can be found if it's that important.

* * *

**Sand**: A little silliness, Commander? True, our tasks have grown a bit more desperate, of late. Most have gotten more ill-tempered as well, even if I had not thought that possible for some of them. Remember this well, though, all things pass, even desperation.

Soap, is of course, the answer.

* * *

**Shandra:** You can have my soap, if you use it on that ranger's mouth...

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: I do not know.

* * *


	13. The Worst Poisons?

_Not a single one of the characters in this chapter is mine, and their KC asked on a rainy night watch:_

**What are the three worst poisons?**

**Ammon:** Allowing yourself to be distracted from your goals. Poisons can be dealt with, or ignored. Lacking a clear goal and willingness to pay whatever cost is needed to accomplish it has doomed many an effort... from raising a family, to forging a blade, to defeating an immortal enemy. Lacking the power, resolve, or tools to succeed will end it all, far more than some mineral or alkaloid.

* * *

**Bishop:** I thought you didn't like poisons, Commander, though I could get you some if you want. It is a great way to make sure you survive, when the odds may look against you. Though, (scratches chin) it doesn't help much against undead and a lot of things we've come up against, of late.

Stonefish toxin's pretty ugly, but using it to help win a combat isn't too likely. I once saw what was supposed to be Bulbous Delginn, or its effects at least, when I was a lot younger. It left the body in a pool of his own blood in a locked, magically sealed room, looking like he'd been beaten first, without any trail in the large pool of blood. I'd rather not experience Asarabaka either.

You might find Tigerfly effective with your weapon, and pretty safe to use. If you're careful, the paladin won't even notice.

* * *

**Casavir:** While there are many natural and vile poisons, some things are far more poisonous. Loss of hope, loss of faith, and loss of... your soul. I came far too close to the first two, and I think two of us have lost that third.

I regret that we must still associate with them, but I do understand the necessities and hope that I am wrong in my concerns.

* * *

**Construct:** Hsssssss!

* * *

**Elanee:** There are so many poisons in nature. That is why magical treatment becomes so much more effective than a specific antidote unless you are expecting a particular poison. Too many poisons have similar symptoms, that you may select the wrong reagent.

Spores, venoms, lichens, I find there are so many when I think on it, that I cannot choose only three. Any poison can be the worst.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Oh, my. That is one topic I have never really studied. Some of my music may help relieve a poisoned soul, but only if I am very clever and can time it just right. With some wounds, I am far too late to help.

Poisons and toxins... hmm. I know of a few by name or folk sayings, but that information can be unreliable. I would speak to Elanee or Zjhaeve if I thought there was a problem. Poisons can be far too fast to wait on guessing.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Poisons are dirty business, you should stay away from them, lass. What honor can you earn or how can you prove your worth if you won't face your foe? There are many nasty poisons out there. Some of my clan brothers were especially wary of dwarf-rot, but poison's poison, and cowardly.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Worst? Lethal ones, I guess. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot that aren't lethal. I've used more than a few to slow a target or let me escape a tight spot, back when I used to run solo. A few of them could even be a little fun, if you could arrange for the right ass to be affected. One gang, when I was a kid, self destructed when one of three rival lieutenants poisoned most of the rest, making a lively drama.

You can even get a few in Neverwinter, if you have the right contacts, but I think most are smuggled from Luskan, like Gurch, Deathdance, and Monk's Hood.

* * *

**Qara**: Best poison? I can't really see you bothering with it. Poisons are such a traditional way for weaker people to seize power for themselves. But I have my own power, and do not need that kind of crutch. There's poisons enough I might have learned if I were powerless, like you: belladonna, arsenic has been used in so many sudden family inheritances. It is just too bad that Athseta, Eyokane, and Hexxa don't really exist as they do in the old plays.

* * *

**Sand**: Part ethics, part study, this is a more interesting question. The real question is whether a debilitating substance truly does as much damage as the more intellectual or spiritual injuries one could suffer. That question I do not think I can answer, even to my own satisfaction.

We have enough examples among us, that wounds to the soul frequently lead to dementia, obsessiveness, petulance, crudeness, nihilism, unhealthy self sacrifice, and unhealthy isolation from the rest of the community. But those may not lead to death, may be recovered from. Substances that destroy the body may be quicker and more directly fatal.

Choosing a group of the worst depends on what is worst to me, which may not bother you nearly as much. I will admit gland of Illithid, for its mental degradation, as well as Bloodfire, as being particularly dismaying, or one of many that can cause blindness as my vision is so important to me.

* * *

**Shandra:** Poisons? I can't say I know much about them, other than the everyday things to avoid: nightshade, snake and spider venom, and strangely enough, my mother's rhododendrons.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: Most poisonous to the soul are greed, anger, and folly. It is regrettable that there is so much poison, I cannot cure here with magic.

* * *


	14. What is Worth Sacrifice?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and this question whiled away some time waiting:_

_People die for many reasons, sometimes just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But sometimes they choose and accept that end. What things are important to you?_

**What Do You Have That is Worth Dying For?**

**Ammon:** Nothing I have. My accumulated knowledge and will, are only serving so that I can defeat the King of Shadows. I must survive to ensure his defeat.

After that? Still nothing, but then many of my debts will come due, and I will learn if I have been clever enough.

* * *

**Bishop:** Free will and my freedom. I can always make or acquire anything I really need. (long pause) Maybe furball.

* * *

**Casavir:** My faith, our cause, my comrades... Service may require the willing sacrifice of your own life for the greater good.

No, Commander, worry not. I no longer seek death, as I once did. I have hope for the future and look forward to the days after this campaign.

* * *

**Elanee:** You cannot 'own' the things that I think are worth dying for. Nature is. The land is eternal, always being reborn, enduring, and dying; these cycles are eternal unless some great void interferes. The People, and the other peoples, can be in need of guidance and protection. Things, are simply not worth it.

Do not forget what is worth living for, in these dark times.

* * *

**Grobnar:** My music, my instruments, my stories, all are replaceable or in some ways already eternal.

I would love to write some classic piece that lasts down the generations, but few want to hear one of my people doing a saga or tragedy. A sad perceptual and range difference, which leaves only comedy and parody. While pleasant and fun, they do not usually become standards or a grand legacy. But a worthy cause or my friends? Yes, dying for those reasons, even if no one knows, would leave me satisfied with my life.

* * *

**Khelgar:** My name and honor as an Ironfist. Relics of my clan's heritage, and making sure a certain someone doesn't pilfer them. My clan's future. And, of course my friends. You certainly have shown me the way to many a fine fight, and for fine causes most of the time as well. I'm not quite sure how a youngster like you has mastered the art of finding a good brawl as well as you have.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Sorry, I can't think of a single thing I own that I'd want to die for. I can always get another. Even that lucky coin, isn't worth that, as I can always get it back. Oh, I'd be ticked if I lost some items, but I have stashes at a few reliable locations. It wouldn't take long to resume my life. Death is too permanent to be worth some pretty toy.

* * *

**Qara**: My power. It is mine, and no one better try to limit it, or what I do with it. I will not live hooded and tressed like some hawk.

* * *

**Sand**: A more thought-provoking question this time? One much more worthy of contemplation than some of the more... frivolous questions you've offered. Yes, this is interesting, I find myself quite curious myself. I don't suppose you'd be willing to share the others' answers?

Hmm. I have no thing I would be willing to die for, objects are often ephemeral and so replaceable. However, knowledge and experience, I have already often been at risk in order to acquire. I doubt I would ever be willing to tolerate Luskans, or those of that ilk again. Knowledge can be gained in other ways, and dying is not as bad as death of self.

Not that I seek death or battle for its own sake, but knowledge is worth the risk of death. It would be pointless to buy something at the cost of my life.

* * *

**Shandra:** Nothing. I've already lost most of what I owned, my family, my friends, my farm. I may still have title in some dusty office, but why die for that? I hope to rebuild, and I've started putting some aside for that, but dying for it defeats the purpose.

I guess I might be willing to die for a cause, but I doubt it. I'll leave that to people like you and the paladin.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: What else is worth dying for but your beliefs? They are far more eternal and mean much more on the great wheel than any object. Even my people's beliefs about the sword are in many ways more important than the actual weapon. The form may have shattered, but the idea, the belief in it and its power still resonates, making you stronger, even now.

* * *


	15. Who Are You?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and this question came to each after the end of a rough day:_

**Who Are You?**

**Ammon:** Jerro, once master and slave of beings you could not comprehend. That matters little right now, for what we must accomplish. I want to be the end of the Illefarn guardian, and will do anything to bring that end. Anything.

* * *

**Bishop:** Hmm, survivor, ranger, fighter, lousy tavern patron, tracker and hunter, lover, killer, drunkard, companion of a wolf, seducer, guide to the rich, escapee, bastard, hunter of assassins and target of assassins, foul mouthed braggart, smuggler, and waste of space. It all depends on who you'd ask. What would you say?

Yeah, that would answer, too, whichever seemed most amusing or fit my needs.

* * *

**Casavir:** Sir Casavir, paladin of Tyr.

I hope to be a beacon for justice and force for the light for the rest of my life, in whatever ways I am able. Pledging service for this time with you, has taught me many things, not the least of which, is that my focus had become too narrow.

* * *

**Elanee:** Member of the Circle of the Mere, druid, elf... after all these years, I seem to have become an adventurer as well. That is not any of the consequences I might have expected when I was detailed to monitor your growth. Nor being possibly a grieving Circle of only one.

* * *

**Grobnar:** I am sure I told you, Grobnar Gnomehands, bard, tinkerer and seeker of Wendersnaven.

Well, yes, it is a bit redundant. Of course I would have gnome hands. It's not as if I could suddenly decide to have ogre hands. I suppose the problem is that too many I first met when I started my travels, didn't understand my family's name, and mangled it in so many ways. At least 'gnomehands' is a reasonable allusion to my family name in gnomish. Most of my kin are makers: artisans, engineers, jewelers, and craftsmen. My grandmother had a fine hand at enchanting gems into almost living automatons of nightingales that would sing beautifully...

Well, as I am the only "Gnomehands" I know of, of course all are bards.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Khelgar, of the Ironfist clan. Did ye forget how to spell it again?

While I've always enjoyed a good brawl and a good tankard, I have learned a bit more than I expected when I set out to learn from those monks. Their kind of fighting is mighty impressive, and I am glad to have learned a few things, useful in a bar room. Tyr is a worthy one to follow, even if those tests seemed strange enough. So, even if I did not become a monk, I am glad of the experience.

So I am a warrior of my clan, seeker, and friend.

* * *

**Neeshka**: I really **am** Neeshka, though I guess I could pick a more interesting name if I really wanted to. I doubt you could convince the paladin or wizard to use it though.

I wish I knew more, some days, about my parents. But then I realized, when we met that jerk, that there were worse things than not knowing.

* * *

**Qara**: I am Qara, sorceress, and future headmistress of my own academy, where those with talent and power are taught better ways to use it, rather than slaving over old books and reinventing the wheel.

No, I deny any patronymic. If he and his precious council could not understand the value of the power right in front of them, then good riddance. I will choose my own name, when inspiration strikes, and that will be the name of my school.

* * *

**Sand**: A question with some relevance, hmm? You know of me already, as one of the People, a wizard and philtre brewer, and sometime legal advocate. I do keep people and circumstances around me in my mind, even if I do not advance as quickly in my studies as I'd once wanted.

No, no, you are correct. I was certainly not given this name by my parents, I would hope no parents would choose a name that expressed no hopes, no dreams, not even honoring respected others. No, I chose this one myself, after being ground down by some of my experiences. Then I came to realize the value of it, for sand cannot be ground down any further, it remains yet sand, only more refined.

* * *

**Shandra:** Shandra Jerro, orphan. Teamster, retired. Farmer, retired. Apprentice warrior, it seems. Have sword, will travel. I really can't wait until I can go back to being a farmer.

Do you have any idea how long it may be?

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: I could list the roles and functions I've served, but I am more than just that. Just as you are more than that fraction of our Sword. Beliefs are what will finally finish this. I believe, even if not in powers like the paladin, but his belief is strong as well.

That ancient void, who once had all the beliefs of his people, himself has none now. He may have some power from belief in his threat, but many believe in you.

* * *

_A/N: Sebastion was out of town, and could not guest this question..._


	16. What Makes You Laugh?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked this during a trudging march:_

**What Makes You Laugh?**

**Ammon:** Hmmph, I have little reason to laugh anymore, That, too, I have given up in pursuing my cause.

I can recall that I once was amused by much the same things as any youngster like you, but few things strike me as funny anymore. I suspect it was burnt out of me by the things I have seen and done. While I do not approve of that kind of distraction, I do envy it a small bit. Remembering what I once had.

* * *

**Bishop:** Many things, some more than others. Some pompous noble ass thinking he's all superior. Another falling in the shit and ruining his clothing while on a hunt I'm being well paid for. Killing Luskans. Making a nice profit for something I like to do. Seeing some people get fucked by their own rules is hilarious, too, no matter how many times I provoke 'em. I'm not sure why you're in that group; there's enough asses screwing with you to keep you in line, you really should tell 'em they should fuck off.

So many things can be funny: idiots with a song, some fool slipping in the mud or river, the pointless things people do to themselves, stupid people, a good screw, a good drink, even a good joke... did I mention morons?

* * *

**Casavir:** More things do than when I was younger, not that I appreciate the crueler kinds of humor, even if called 'jests.' Funny insights. One of my instructors had the most amazing collection of humorous stories that were often off-color or irreverent, but he often used them to illustrate a point.

Now that I am older, and I hope wiser, I can sometimes appreciate my own folly.

* * *

**Elanee:** I rarely laugh aloud, even when I am amused. Most often, my heart is lightened by accidental events or the playfulness of the young of many species, such as puppies, otters, ducklings, ... and humans. (smile)

* * *

**Grobnar:** Jokes, riddles, pies in the face, and witty words. Satire, and parody, gallows humor, silly things, even translation confusions. Sometimes, I still trying to figure out why "dead puppy" jokes persist over the years. Some bards have had successful careers in just writing parodies, but that would grow tiring.

* * *

**Khelgar:** A well told tale, even a tall tale, heard with a mug of ale or something stronger in my hand. A story of foolishness, overweening pride, or concern for meaningless things, some tales can be all three.

Other things can be comical, too, including watching those two young men try to cut each other out. (grins)

* * *

**Neeshka**: People getting their comeuppance for the things they've done, and getting exactly what they deserve.

* * *

**Qara**: Laughing in the faces of those little girls and their slavish devotion to dirty, dusty tomes. Once I have the idea explained, it doesn't take long to show I have the power, while they still have dust smudges on their faces. The look on their faces, when one of those musty old tomes burns a pretty color, made me laugh thinking over it, for weeks.

* * *

**Sand**: Well aside from the application of certain hideous spells, most of the things that I find to be amusing either involve some kind of wit or the accidental comedies of life. Often, like with many insights, it is merely an exercise in your point of view.

* * *

**Shandra:** Jokes? Funny stories? The normal things, I guess. Though everything is much funnier if you've had enough alcohol or not enough sleep.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: My people do not make much of a study of the lighter philosophies. Some have written commentaries on the ironies of the husks on the dead powers. Some travelers have done other forms of mockery on them. I am discovering it to be an interesting exercise and study here in quieter moments, or perhaps less quiet moments that it is exercised.

* * *


	17. When You Have No Options?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked a quick question in a slow moment:_

_You are in some situation, combat or otherwise, where no option you can see, as to what to do next, is really acceptable._

**What do you do next?**

**Ammon:** Change the rules, change the situation. Anything...

Almost anything can be turned to your advantage.

* * *

**Bishop:** Whatever I damn well feel like, if all give me the same chances.

* * *

**Casavir:** If all are unacceptable, I would choose and hope for the best. I would pray for what is lost.

Necessary costs are not always unacceptable.

* * *

**Elanee:** (sighs) Choose that which preserves and protects the world and lands. If the land is not corrupted, life will return on its own.

I would mourn the innocent, though.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Think harder, there has to be something unexpected I can do that would be no worse than the obvious answers. Even if it is doing something silly that helps change the others around me, as they may think of something else, or decide not to do the wrong thing.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Remember what other Ironfists have done, and choose the one with the most honor. If all me choices are bad, doing the honorable one would be best.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Getting my tail out of there would have been my usual plan, but... I dunno, now. If I can't come up with something else, pick one, and hope Tymora smiles on me.

* * *

**Qara**: Take them with me in the biggest blaze ever.

* * *

**Sand**: Haven't you already faced that dilemma to some degree with your trial? I have, many times over the years, and it never grows easier.

First, I must clear myself of any useless thought, like 'if only' I had this spell, this skill, this item. There is almost always another option that was missed at first glance, one that may be more acceptable. If not, choose the one that leads to the least regrets that you can live with.

* * *

**Shandra:** There has to be a better way, or all the sacrifices of our friends and family were in vain. One of the choices _has_ to be better.

* * *

**Zjhaeve**: Choose, knowing that some things, like thoughts and beliefs are eternal. They form the universe, and they always matter.

* * *


	18. What Divides Vengeance and Justice?

_Not a single one of these characters is mine, and their KC asked this question after a particularly bad loss. Language warning._

**Where Does Revenge End and Justice Begin?**

**Ammon:** You can stop glaring at me like that. I am quite aware of what I have done. This price is far greater to me than any price I have agreed to.

You own a piece of it, but of all people, I know deals cannot be struck without agreement on both sides. Ignorance was not bliss, and I had not realized that danger when I left them to it. Perhaps you are not the only one a bit naive still.

I don't know where the line between those two is drawn, since it matters not to me once my job is done.

* * *

**Bishop:** Justice is only revenge with the approval of others. Approval by some lordling, captain, priest, or his god. Setting their opinion over your own. It doesn't mean any more than piss, as none of them have been through what you have. Their stupid opinions don't negate the importance of what they didn't experience. Only you should decide what your actions are, not some ass's curse or approval.

* * *

**Casavir:** That is a weighty question, and can be debated for years. Both can be unbalanced, and both can be fair. Justice should be fair and balanced so that great pain does not create an unending cycle of pain and retribution.

But we are only mortals... --sighs-- and even justice can be corrupted and subverted from beginnings that once seemed clean, such as your trial. While I am quite... satisfied that you finally won that, that should not have been necessary. Not the finessing for high justice, nor that such things as alibis were not even considered. Justice should be pure and true for all.

The dividing line comes when actions are out of proportion and feed only pain, instead of the good of the one passing judgement and community. One seeking revenge becomes as corrupted by what they do as the original criminal. Even worse if those who want revenge are many, as in a lynch mob. Forgiveness is too hard for many.

* * *

**Elanee:** Both of those ideas come from people, of every kind. Nature needs neither. Survival doesn't waste important energy on constructs like these. I mourn who was lost, and deal with threats. If one is in place to deal revenge or justice, there is no current threat. The raging bear could become a friend.

I am afraid that does not help me as much as it should.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Revenge is just meanness, for the sake of cruelty. Formal justice can also be too cold, but at least it is far more likely to give a hope of an end.

Revenge had made for many exciting and sad songs and tales, but they all end up tragically in some way as they lose a piece of themselves to that madness. But now, I understand the acid of revenge better, and wish I did not.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Revenge is mighty tempting, especially now, but justice cannot be denied, either here or after ye die. They will get what they deserve... what they richly deserve.

* * *

**Neeshka**: I've never thought much about justice, it never seemed to be for people like me. But now I can see it might be better, as they have more time to anticipate before they die.

* * *

**Qara**: Revenge is justice someone else doesn't agree with. But my justice will fall on those sluts and idiots who dare tell me I should be a good little girl and leave the adults make the decisions about my life. It will burn brightly to show that I am not to be trifled with. I will show them I can do things they do not dream of, I will not waste my chance to take my rightful place.

* * *

**Sand**: Is this philosophy today, or considering an unwise option? Necessity is often a harsh taskmaster. Need I remind you that emotional indulgence could ruin everything?

Very well, I will answer it, if you think it will be of assistance. Revenge is the emotional need to try to visit as much pain as the original criminal visited on you. This is why the vengeance of a mob reaches insanity levels, for nothing will be remaining but a bloody smear. Dangerous as the target may be the wrong one, or regretfully, needed. Justice is more measured, attempting to find the correct answers, but like most things in this mortal sphere, can be mistaken or corrupted. After some travesties I have seen over the decades, I take comfort that the gods are not fooled.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: As creations of thought and belief, justice and vengeance are along the same axis of thought and actions. They are only a matter of degree between the total apathy of complete benevolence and the violence of total devastation. Some vengeance can be merciful, and some justice cruel. Be sure whichever it is that you seek, is really what you want to find.

* * *


	19. Gifts of the Gods?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked a puzzler when bored:_

**What Are the Five Most Important Gifts from the Gods?**

**Ammon:** Nothing is free, I prefer to know what any deal will cost me ahead of time.

* * *

**Bishop:** You might as well ask the five most important gifts of the blasted Wendersnaven. I don't care what people think they've been given, their delusions are quite amusing, especially when someone cripples themselves for this magic.

All you have to do is live in some pit of misery for years or think about the pettiness of even the so-called 'good' gods, as much as their devoted followers, to know that it's all just a bunch of bullshit. They may be powerful, they may dribble some magic to their suckers, but there are no miracles or gifts for toeing the line.

* * *

**Casavir:** Only five? (long pause) Truth and justice, even if delayed, unpaid debts will come due in the afterlife. Their blessings in so many forms. Hope for a better future, and... love.

* * *

**Elanee:** Life itself, health, fertility, someone to care for, and a peaceful death.

* * *

**Grobnar:** (smiles) Can I assume you're not thinking of some package wrapped up with a pretty ribbon and a fluffy stuffed fabric bear on top?

There are many things the gods can give: gifts of talent, skills, powers, aside from the small and large miracles. Why one story had a series of helpful and tragic gifts, bestowed on an infant girl...

Oh, seriously? Gifts of laughter, joy, remembrance, regret, and love, of course. What else is worth songs?

* * *

**Khelgar:** A strong arm, a strong constitution, enough sense to come out of the rain, a good heart, and a bit of luck... those are the only gifts ye need from the gods, lass. Ye're doin' fine in those, lass.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Well, I can't say I really have any idea right now... lucky in cards and lucky in love? I think I'm fine in some areas. I'd like for certain horse's asses to get an appropriate come down, and that might take a god to do. I would love knowing even better how to disarm some of the presents left for us when we travel. And I would really like for us all to get through this whole.

* * *

**Qara**: My own power, and the will to use it. I don't need any other gifts from the gods.

* * *

**Sand**: While I do generally approve of inquiring minds, could you perhaps leave me to my contemplations upon occasion, hmm?

Fine, if you will ask me nothing further tonight. Gifts of thought, intuition, power, skill... and heart. Of late I have come to recognize that logic and pursuing the intricacies of the law or magic, can lead one to a sterile and dead place if one forgets there is always a goal at the end of a maze.

* * *

**Shandra:** Family and friends, healthy lands, good weather, good harvests... and the hope to see loved ones again.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: These gods you call them, cannot give you what you already have. If these powers gave you what you are not ready for, you will waste or overlook the gift. Be aware of all gifts, and their costs.

* * *


	20. What do Lazy Dogs do?

_These characters aren't mine. Their KC asked a quick riddle in a slow moment, and got these answers. Warning: some language._

**What do lazy dogs do for fun?**

**Ammon:** Ask pointless questions like the gnome.

* * *

**Bishop:** ((glares)) Who the fuck cares?

* * *

**Casavir:** Sleep.

* * *

**Construct:** ((waves rusty limb))

* * *

**Elanee:** Play, all mammals play to some degree.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Chase dead cats!

What kind of stones are never found in a mountain lake?

* * *

**Khelgar:** Scratch or lick themselves.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Sit on your boots when you have other things to do.

* * *

**Qara**: ((rolls eyes)) What?

* * *

**Sand**: Much the same as any dog, but probably more efficiently. Take the stick **from** the thrower's hand. Shake off water right **onto** your spellbooks. Howl at the moon **just** out of sight. Stink up the common room from **behind** the ranger...

But with less malice.

* * *

**Shandra:** Not much at all.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: I do not know, I know little about small guardians of the Prime.

* * *


	21. Regrets and Intentions?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked this question after a fun-filled day of combat:_

**If you were to die tonight, what would you regret? What would you do about that?**

**Ammon:** I regret little, my decisions have been what served my purposes. I regret that I didn't keep a closer watch on my kin, as obscurity was not safety, it was their ruination. Nothing I do now can change that.

I must finish my purpose, and you must survive to serve it as well, so do not dwell on phantasms of regret.

* * *

**Bishop:** Well, if I had to die for some stupid reason, I'd prefer it be after a night of wild sex. You volunteering?

* * *

**Casavir:** I regret many things. Things I should not have done, or things I should have done better.

If I would die that soon... I would not regret my time here, understand that. I would hope that my regrets mean little against the good I hope I have accomplished with my life.

* * *

**Elanee:** There is a season for everything, even hopes and griefs. I regret that others of my circle could not be convinced to look beyond their clearing and see the forest. Hiding in a burrow does not prepare for a drought or wildfire.

If I died now, I would regret that I had not the time to start a new circle. I could start that now, but it would have no value while the wildfire is still raging.

* * *

**Grobnar:** (shakes head) Regret is only for looking backwards, not forwards. Someone I once cared for, believed in the Wendersnaven. My songs are for her.

Myself? I would like to have what every bard wishes, some great masterpiece that will outlast elves. Regretfully, I have not found that inspiration in my travels yet.

* * *

**Khelgar:** I'd regret my kin misunderstood me or my loyalty to them. I will need to visit them and make better plans for our future, once this dust up is over...

* * *

**Neeshka**: Not much. I've done most of the things I wanted to do, and the 'greatest thief' title doesn't mean that much now that I've spent much more time traveling. I kind of wish I'd have left a little sooner as Leldon was an ass. But then I'd missed ya, so it's just as well. Teasing the runt is a lotta fun, too.

Life's too short to waste time on regrets. Seize the... day. I hear paladins are supposed to forgive. (grin)

* * *

**Qara**: I regret I allowed myself to play their games instead of my own. I wasted precious time and effort on garbage limitations. No one will limit my future, I will choose my own path. No regrets there.

* * *

**Sand**: Hmm, Commander. I have regretted many things in my life, some things I had done for the study of my art among the most. But even regret can wear thin after decades, and once I have found a balance I will release that regret as well.

Do not cling to your regrets, you do not have the luxury to wallow in yours like your foster father.

* * *

**Shandra:** I think I might regret not choosing a different place for us to camp at. Living longer, rebuilding my home, and starting a family... I'd regret missing those things, but if I'm dead I can't do much about them.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: I would know no regrets or leave no tasks behind me. I choose my path with the wisdom of my inner voice, and I will have faith in that.

* * *


	22. Good Memories?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and this question was asked after a rough day:_

_x x_

**What good memory do you have, that you think you might remember of all this, once this damn thing is all over?**

**Ammon:** None. There has been no good for me in this war.

I look forward to seeing the end of my adversary, but that is not a memory... yet.

* * *

**Bishop:** Watching that Luskan ass die in that farce of a trial. Any Luskan dying is cause to have an ale, but he managed to be extra pissy. I bet his tiny little brain had trouble understanding that **you** did it.

Don't you go on a guilt trip like the paladin would. He chose that death, even if he had been from a hick village. He wasn't fighting because he wanted to survive, like you. He killed because his masters ordered it, like a good little slave. The fool.

* * *

**Casavir:** Cleaning and restoring the Keep. I remember how the scaffold you rigged didn't hold, and you and the soapy trough made quite a splash all over the floor and walls, and you laughed. I was very glad when I confirmed that you hadn't been injured, even if I'd gotten much more sudsy myself when I lifted you out of the pool of water and soap.

(smiles) Sliding on the floor after that, when I went to find a mop wasn't quite as amusing, but we still laughed.

* * *

**Elanee:** That bittersweet joy when I thought more of my circle had survived clean of the growing taint. Even though I was wrong, it reminded me that new joys and beginnings can come after the darkest of winters.

* * *

**Grobnar:** No grand vision, worthy of an epic, so far. Making friends with Kistrel, even if I can't decide which eye to keep eye contact with. And of course, discovering the virtues of my gift from the Wendersnaven will always warm my heart.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Findin' the heirlooms of me clan. I was so proud, I was fit to bust. We needed to remember that there are more roads into a city than just one traditional one. Even skinny humans can teach us somethin' new.

* * *

**Neeshka**: That question is easy, for a change. Friendship, not despising me for something I can't help, or trying to make me be something else. Even if you do want me to be more careful. Knowing I have a kip where people are really glad to see me, not just what I can do for them and their plans.

* * *

**Qara**: Destroying that dragon, as that proved to everyone that my power is not just over fire. Although you should have better kept its attention away from me.

* * *

**Sand**: Hmm, yes, there are a few memories I will treasure for the rest of the years I am given. The look on Torio's face when she realized that she had lost at when her enforcer was defeated. And later when she had to be useful to buy her own life after her crimes, was a small pearl, of value every time I see her. And of course rediscovering old magics in the places you've dragged me to has been rewarding personally.

However, I will say watching you juggle the more volatile of our group has always been amusing. Juggling blast globes would possibly have been easier. ... Not that you should even suggest that to the gnome!

* * *

**Shandra:** Every damn gith that I've killed. In memory of my friends and lost home.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: I believe it will be the small things I will cherish, as wars have so few of them. Wars are hatred and destruction. My first breath of clean air after you believed in me enough, even though unknown, to have me released. The fury of nature's thunderstorm. A swarm... a flock of birds fluttering around, circling their joy of flight.

Small things that endure even the shadows.

* * *


	23. Monster Most Hated?

_Not a single one of these characters is mine. They were asked a question, during a boring day's travel:_

**What monsters do you hate most?**

**Ammon:** The King of Shadows, of course.

Why? Hmm. ((pause)) I suppose it began as something territorial, as it threatened my country and family. But now it has become something else, as all those are now gone. I could easily escape to another plane, another prime. I think now it is revenge, for all it has cost me, both my family and who I used to be.

* * *

**Bishop:** Humans, especially those from Luskan. Most monsters are either animals or see me as an animal, there isn't malice, just whatever hunger they think I'll fix. Simple survival is a win then. A tiger's just hungry.

But only humans, or some similar things like mind flayers, take a special delight in chaining and twisting all around them. A Luskan will bet on how long some prisoner will survive with bamboo growing through his body. And in slow steps it almost seems normal and fun, until you see those chains around you.

* * *

**Casavir:** I do not believe I hate any single monster the most. Even creatures like orcs, would be fine if they were peaceful farmers or hunters.

There are many things more to be hated for being abominations, or corrupting all they come in contact with. I fear some we've dealt with may have that foul influence on... my friends. Of course the greater undead that chose to become as they are are possibly the worst: great power to do evil and spreading it in their wake. That power, a temptation to others to follow the same path. Corrupters are pure evil in thought and influence, with no other limits. They tempt those already dark as well as those too weary of the battle.

A great Hatred, like in song and legend, destroys your soul.

* * *

**Construct:** ((Spins pincers like a pinwheel))

* * *

**Elanee:** Anything or anyone who thinks they have the right or arrogance to end the natural cycles of life. Hating creatures, like orcs or Luskan invaders, for their threat or what they've already done is natural. Forces like that do not corrupt the land or people. Life can adapt and rebound. The more powerful types of undead or outsiders, who have no interest in what they fight over or destroy are different. When the very land is tainted and dead rise, the corruption spreads. Healing the land will be slow.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Hate? I admit I fear some monsters, especially the ones that can swallow me whole. I don't think I hate any monsters that much, even if they think we should die. That just makes them stupid. And soon dead. (grins)

I hate wood rot, 'cause it can affect my instruments, but that's not really a monster.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Well, many of me clan just plain hate giants. They're nasty alright, but some we've fought are far worse. I have to say undead are what I hate the most. It is just not right or fair that those people are denied their honorable rest. Worse, the damned ones animating them, only create more evil because they are damned cowards!

* * *

**Neeshka**: I hate... things like Mephasm who only use those around them, binding them in rules, deals, and laws. I left the orphanage when I couldn't take their controlling rules. The whole idea of summoning and bindings... is just revolting.

* * *

**Qara**: I can't really think of any monsters I really hate. They are only threats, and not worth that much of my consideration. Most burn quite nicely, in fact.

* * *

**Sand**: Hmm, I suppose whichever one that is currently trying to kill me. It aids a little in focus. Outside of combat, there are many monsters you will never find in a bestiary. Creatures that attain some extraordinary level of threat for their type and you hope that that coincidence of happenstance never occurs again.

Hatred, while a useful tool, makes a bad master. Some of those with us are very good examples of hatred becoming corrupting. They may have won all their battles with what they hate, but they have lost a war and become akin to what they hate most.

* * *

**Shandra:** Githyanki, they all should die for being the evil that kill good people. Every last one of them. If I could make them all dissolve in a pit of their own bad cess, that would be a good start. I may make that my goal in life.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: Hatred clouds your perceptions, but if any would evoke that it would be the ilithids. We may have become more than we were because of them, but the reasons for that need were more far reaching than any single foe or so-called power.

* * *

_A/N: A gold star for you if you know what the construct is referring to..._


	24. Chicken or the Egg?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked this:_

**Which came first, the chicken or the egg?**

**Ammon:** (glares, and begins to cast a spell)

* * *

**Bishop:** I don't think it really matters, both can make a good breakfast, especially if the chick can cook.

* * *

**Casavir:** Hmm, the egg, if you consider the progression over time. An egg becomes a chicken, but a chicken does not become an egg. A chicken, or hen, will produce a new and separate egg.

* * *

**Elanee:** The start of all things with the gods doesn't speak of the gods creating eggs, but creating condors, lions, eel, humans, and elves. So birds came before eggs, even if they were probably surprised when it happened.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Well, what kind of chicken is it? Is it a real chicken? Does it age in the proper sequence, or is the egg the senile stage? Is first in the level of an individual chicken and egg, or are you speaking as a species? Is the egg a chicken egg, or the egg of Tiamat?

The chicken, as it can't be a chicken egg unless a chicken laid it.

* * *

**Khelgar:** The egg, are ye daft? I'd almost rather the other questions, at least they had some meat to them.

* * *

**Neeshka**: I dunno, why would it matter to anyone? Chicken I guess, in order to lay the egg. I will say an egg is easier to steal or deliver to the windows of some prig late at night.

* * *

**Qara**: I will require both of them, if I am to try to convince the cook of **this** establishment to make a simple garlic egg chicken. Something with a bit more moisture and subtlety of flavor than stews, mushes, and roast pigs.

* * *

**Sand**: Not much to consider this time. As chickens were not really chickens, per se, before they were domesticated, and eggs were extant for ages before that, so eggs came first.

Not that the order I choose really matters. The actual question of what the King of Shadows was before, is irrelevant to us, as he no longer exists. Easier to believe that Ammon Jerro would become a paladin than our opponent suddenly remember that he was to protect these lands and not destroy them.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: The egg or the chicken? They both are equally the answer, as the chicken is only the potential hidden within the egg. The egg is the hope and belief the chicken has for the future.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for the suggestions for this one, but it finally gelled._


	25. Who to Turn to?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, even if some of the language is saltier. This question was posed:_

**Who would you turn to if you if you needed help desperately?**

**Ammon:** Help? No one would offer help to me of their own free will. There is always a cost for the 'help' of others. Even noble idiots like paladins and commanders want something, perhaps they even hope that they can make the world, or even make me, better.

I prefer to set the terms for any help I need. Never turn to someone else with only hope, when you have reached that point of desperation. Hopes don't accomplish much of anything useful.

* * *

**Bishop:** I guess you're not thinking of Karnwyr helping me for this problem of yours? No? ((shakes head)) No one I can think of. I've always been on my own, I can survive on my own without this help of yours. No one helps without a motive of their own.

The pup? Fuck, yes. I'd just take whatever potion or magic I need from whoever would most likely have it. You, most likely, commander... you make sure everyone else has them. You must have them too.

What, really?

* * *

**Casavir:** My Lord Tyr of course, as well as my brothers and sisters. Amongst our company, most are worthy people, and I would welcome their help if they will. Some of us would not proffer help if I were to need it.

I have no doubt you would help, my lady, but some help comes at too high a cost and I would not want... ((grunts)) Very well, I will do as you wish, if it should occur.

* * *

**Elanee:** Much would depend on the urgency of this desperation. If it were truly urgent, I would ask even the ranger and pray the cost is not too high. If sufficient time was not a question, I would prefer to consult the wisdom of my Circle. Or, at least a Circle.

Of the people in this odd circle, yourself and the paladin would be willing to help. The bard would also be willing, but I am not as sure that he would be... balanced in his attempts to be of assistance. Sand would most likely help, even though he has almost completely forgotten his connection to nature. The others might help, or might not, frail reeds in times of strife.

* * *

**Grobnar:** My, my. If things were desperate for me, that means we are in some kind of confrontation, or that my audience is already past throwing tomatoes and into more painful objects. Then, only hiding and escape is what I need to do.

Confrontations. sigh Who I would turn to, would depend on the nature of my desperate need. Physical threats would mean Sir Paladin, Master Dwarf, or even yourself, Commander. Magical threats would make Elanee, Master Sand, or Sage Zhjaeve the better choices. I might turn to the others, depending on the situation...

But things are rarely as desperate as they appear, and dark clouds eventually break. I hope everyone remembers that.

* * *

**Khelgar:** If I had 'me clan about me, I would not even need to turn. Ironfists stick together.

But when travelin' with ye, there are fewer I'd depend on in a rough 'n tumble fight. Young Casavir, you, lass... Strangely enough, even the fiendling.

* * *

**Neeshka**: You, Stubby, and Casavir. Grobnar would help, but would probably fry off my hair by mistake or sing a new shudder Wendersnaven song for his spell. The others, I'm not as sure they'd help me. Some would probably want things worse than my problem, in order for me to get their help.

That's the bad part of relying on Tymora sometimes, luck can end at really, really bad times. Skill and nerve are more persistent.

* * *

**Qara**: I don't really need help. Once my powers have grown, I can hire servants to handle all the annoying little chores you and your uncle find it amusing for me to have to do. If only I had my portion, I could go somewhere else, and return as a power to teach them what they owe me.

* * *

**Sand**: Hmm.

Hmm, that is an interesting consideration, my dear Commander. No, I'd never really had anyone I could expect help from without a deal or favor being involved. Negotiating becomes an automatic reaction and way to limit the costs of gaining assistance. My very thought processes were becoming as warped as an old meadow fence.

But even as I was working on your defense, I saw you had attracted many to your side without deals or such strong arm tactics. Some are the antitheses of my former associates. I believe yourself, young Casavir, and even... the too cheerful Grobnar, would help without delay, or even considering deals or contracts. Altruism is a dangerous infection, but I am becoming convinced of its secondary benefits. And that is not something I would have expected to learn from this campaign.

* * *

**Shandra:** Alaine is one of my few friends, and my neighbors in Highcliff are most likely happy I'm gone. I have no kin.

So, I would ask some of your zoo. The paladin, the Ironfist, and the druid should be safe choices. The others are too weird or smarmy. I'd ask you also, but I can't say I'm that used to owing a swampy like this.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: I do not really know any others here on the Prime. If I were desperate elsewhere, there would far more likely be some of my people I could call upon. Here, I only know of your clan to call upon in my desperation.

You, of course, even if you know little of the forces beyond this corner of the Prime, your link to the shards say that the legacy of Gith moves you and moves about you. The warrior faith-holder, as his soul is pure and belief is strong. That determined belief can make its own miracles, even if his power is not as he thinks. The rogue has infernal blood, but a lighter soul. Her blood is a font of power, even if she doesn't know how to use it; she is the potential of a boulder about to roll down the Spire. It could disappear into the chasm, it could destroy a gate town, or it could simply float there.

The others may or may not be willing, but I would be desperate if a threat came from beyond this sphere, and the three of you have the most potential in those places where no shadows are.

* * *


	26. What Do You Crave?

_None of the speaking characters is mine, and their KC asked a quick question after a long, dreary march. Language warning._

**What is the strongest craving you get?**

**Ammon:** I haven't had that luxury to think about what I want for a long time. Alternate plans, escapes, new avenues, the enemies' past behavior and possible future plans. I never have a lack of things to do or contemplate.

Once in a while, I wish I had not learned of our foe. That I could have faded into senility like Aldenon, with my family around me. I might have died before this crisis came. But this, or the earlier one still would have killed them, so there would have been no happy endings.

* * *

**Bishop:** So many to choose from, I don't have all those useless tasks you fill your time with. I'm sure you expect alcohol and the like, but satisfying that craving in the wild is a good way to end up dead. It's not that safe in the city either, if you get stupid enough to challenge a half-ogre. Now, sex is quite the natural craving, and should go with living and dying. Even your life, if you ever stop being a puppet leader.

Hmm. Following that craving for some fun can also kill you in the wild, even if females don't actually eat the males. Controlling your cravings is too important to survival, and you seem to have yours under heel.

I guess what I crave is the freedom to choose. Where to go, who... er, what to do. ((grins)) More importantly, what not to do. I choose what I do, not because some ass-hole tells me to hop to it. I crave booze one day, or ale and a wench another, or exploring the forest for a long time. I can always bring some good booze and an likely wench with me into the woods and satisfy all my cravings. Ready?

* * *

**Casavir:** Fresh bread or biscuits, still warm from the oven, slathered in butter.

* * *

**Elanee:** I am sorry, but I do not think I have needs like that to prey upon me. Everything comes as part of nature's cycles. I may wish tea one day when it is not available, but that does not lessen my memories of tea nor mean I will not enjoy it again.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Inspiration. A subject and a great work that will be a form of immortality, far longer than potions or unlife. Wendersnaven make for a memorable topic, but it does not seem to lend itself to pieces that others find compelling. If I find that inspiration, or inspirations, those songs will make people think, laugh, or cry long after I or the reasons have been otherwise forgotten.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Cravings? I crave a good drink after a good fight. I still don' see why water is enough to celebrate livin' through the day's battles.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Thrills, not slapping mud like this. Shiny baubles, not mossy slop. A slick plan, that works as expected.

Is that enough this time? We gonna find shelter soon?

* * *

**Qara**: I want to blast off the mocking and dismissive looks off all those worthless people around the Academy. It is a... burning desire. I will make sure that ill-bred set of wizards pay for their slander.

* * *

**Sand**: Are you planning to bribe us with our heart's desires? That could be effective, even if some of our wishes are mutually exclusive. I want to know things: law, magic, and how the universe works. The usual for any following magic for more than a century. Though some, looking away have developed other obsessions.

What do you crave, commander? Ah, that is probably a better selection than some.

* * *

**Shandra:** Once, when I was little, my parents and I came here to Neverwinter, I guess. We went to eat a fine meal somewhere, I don't really know if it was some friend's home, or the old days at the Mask, I was too young to know. But the food was very rich, my parents were happy, and the party was magical. I'd give almost anything to see them again.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: Desires can be an illusion that distract you from what is. I may crave air, food, or life, but those are only matters of the body and not the mind or spirit. I do not crave anything.

* * *


	27. How to Get to the Other Side?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC posed a riddle:_

_You're alone, and you want to get from one side of a crevice to another, and there is no bridge. The crevice is too deep to jump, maybe a hundred feet deep and a hundred feet across. The only things you have to help you, beyond what you carry, is a ladder that's, oh, four yards tall, and a lot of rope. No, going around is a bad idea. You can use as much rope as you like, pretend you have some decanter of endless quality rope._

**How do you get to the other side?**

**Ammon:** Brute strength and acrobatics are for others of your pets. If there was something I actually need on the other side I could make a gate, or summon something to fly me across.

* * *

**Bishop:** If the chase was worth it, I'd go around rather than waste my time with some ladder and a risky hundred foot fall. Whoever I'm pursuing won't expect that direction of approach, so I'll get the jump on them while they watch the crevice. Bad ideas aren't necessarily that bad, if you're careful.

If I'm not being paid enough, I'd go back, and impress on whoever hired me, that their damn bounty wasn't high enough and their information worthless. They can wear the ladder and rope for free.

* * *

**Casavir:** Are the walls of the crevice sheer? How sheer? And how flat is the bottom of the crevice? Are there trees on the sides close to the edges?

Use one length of rope on the starting side to act as a pulley to go down the one side taking the ladder. Put the ladder across the narrow part of the floor of the crevice. Cut a rope about a hundred and fifty feet long, and tie one end to the decanter and the other to the ladder, so I can pull it back if the next step causes a problem. Holding to the loose end of the decanter's rope, throw the decanter up, so it loops over a branch and falls back down to me. Cut and tie the loop, and use that to climb up.

If I needed to return the ladder, pull it up with the end still attached to the decanter, and take it with me.

* * *

**Elanee:** Change to some other form and fly or crawl across.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Fill the canyon all the way to the top with rope, and walk across.

Though summoning a giant spider and riding across would be a lot of fun, too.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Now this is more interesting a question! I could use ropes to go down. Dependin' on the ground of this piddlin' crevice, I could make footholds with me hammer and spikes, or if softer soil, me fine Ironfist camp shovel and wood from the ladder as anchors.

* * *

**Neeshka**: I use a grapple, anchor it on this side, and slide across. I could use some more rope to make a safety line so I could rest if I needed it. It really depends on trees and anchor points on both sides.

I've done something similar often enough, but can I keep the decanter? That would be handy. ((grins))

* * *

**Qara**: I'm sure I have better things to do than cross some dusty, crusty hole in the ground. If someone is on the other side, I can burn them from here, and go back to the nearest village for some abominable food and tick infested bedding, until the rest of you finally catch up with me.

* * *

**Sand**: I assume there is some hurry for crossing? Or I might simply take up residence and wait until some busy beavers come along and build a bridge, or even hire some to do just that.

There are of course many spells to help with shorter distances like this, from flying, to small dimensional gates, to polymorphs. It all depends on which I have memorized that day or may have stored on scrolls. Or I could rest long enough to memorize a different, needed spell. That, of course, is one of the many advantages of memorization for your magic: more options.

Sometimes the unexpected use of a spell is most satisfying: walking across on a wall of force, perhaps even using a leg of the ladder to balance if I needed it.

* * *

**Shandra:** Are there any trees in this canyon? If one is tall enough, I could use the rope to swing across somehow, I guess.

Where do you get these things?

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: I do not know, now. I would need to meditate on it, or face the problem in the flesh and believe that inspiration will strike when I have need of it.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for a couple comments on this._


	28. Favorite Song?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked a quick question in a slow moment:_

**What is your favorite kind of singing?**

**Ammon:** Ask your trivia of someone else this time.

No, our business is defeating our opponent.

* * *

**Bishop:** "Here's your money..."

Well yeah, there's other kinds of singing I like, but they aren't very organized, being for very small groups and short on words.

* * *

**Casavir:** Any choir, raising their voices in a hymn of praise to any of the gods of light; though I do prefer Tyr, of course. The treble of a young voice in an elegy of a life well spent, is especially affecting.

* * *

**Elanee:** The song of the healthy land. When I am still enough, all the life of the Mere sings around me. From the earliest morning bird calls, to the insects calling to mates with sound or light, to the nearly silent ruffle of an owl launching off to begin its hunt in the evening, all these sounds make a beautiful, ever changing song.

* * *

**Grobnar:** I don't think I have a favorite. Any song, sung with skill or enthusiasm, has its charms. Each language or society has its masterpieces. Some of the intricate rounds for a dozen voices that I grew up on, would probably sound only like noise to you. Work songs of some cultures are very hard for an outsider to hear. The wider vocal range of some races, does offer some potential, but that will be a future study.

My favorite singing is any that really moves the listeners and causes some kind of change in them. For the better, I hope.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Ah lass, I miss hearing the voices of me clan raised in song, be they traditional sagas or merry drinkin' songs. Music you can feel to your toes.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Dunno, don't really have any I like. I really hate child choirs though. Their precious little voices pierce my eardrums.

* * *

**Qara**: I don't care for singing, but music has its proper place in the background of any civilized gathering. I really don't like high pitched, squeaky voices singing nonsense!

* * *

**Sand**: Ah, I suppose you have found a regret, after all. It is a subtle and profound one as well. I miss the easy speech and harmonies of speech and songs of the People.

Our young druid is a good child, but she's been nearly as isolated from the People as you. She hears only the songs of nature, and little of the songs of those of us who outlive some of nature's cycles. Some communities of our folk live in constant songs, in the music in speech, and meaning in music. In 'human lands,' it is a harsher cadence and noisome smells. There are compensations, but I miss that elusive tapestry of song.

* * *

**Shandra:** We never really had many bards travel through when I was a child, and we didn't sing all that much. Just the usual songs for special events or holy days. I guess my favorites were the songs my father tried to sing at harvest. He really couldn't sing very well, and our hired hands usually snickered for a while.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: A pure tone or tones that help me focus my concentration. These sequences can be nearly silent, or the result of several of my colleagues in contemplation. Wandering and dissonant at the start, they always resolve into a harmony, despite our differences.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry, no octopus squashed by a beer wagon..._


	29. What Can't Be Put Off?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and one time, their Commander asked this question about their priorities:_

**What kind of things are important to do immediately? What should never be put off until the next day?**

**Ammon:** Planning contingencies for emergency defense and escape wherever you find yourself. No one else will do it for you, and they may not even be competent to do that.

Once you are free of the attack on you, you can think of your rebuttal. Attacks should not be attempted without adequate planning, but your opponent may have committed too much to the initial ploy. That is most likely how our enemy will be destroyed, some counterattack he will not expect.

But he has done this many times, so he understands contingencies as well. Think on yours.

* * *

**Bishop:** I prefer to put annoying things off until at least the day after tomorrow. And then two days after that. Important things, like maintaining my equipment don't get delayed. We can have fun right now, we don't have to put that off...

* * *

**Casavir:** Matters of defense and protection should be attended to promptly, of course. Armor, weapons, and spells enable your battle to be won. Enemies will never wait for you to arm yourself or sharpen a blade.

Remembering your purpose for fighting and faith in your cause may take only a moment, even in the heat of battle, but may prevent you from making grievous errors. Reflecting on His directives, in light of daily events, is a necessary part of my daily prayers.

Some things must be delayed, due to the weight of current responsibilities.

* * *

**Construct:** squeeeeeee-ik

* * *

**Elanee:** I find humans usually hasten their lives, much like mayflies do. Many problems are just not as urgent as such youths believe, unaccustomed to the cycles of the seasons. Despite that, sometimes others who should know better, become as infected with that haste. This king of shadowy undead is already immortal, but seems strangely impatient, despite that. He or she was probably from one of the younger races.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Swimming to the surface of the pond, that is never a good thing to delay. You have to let the buoyancy do most of the work though, and don't panic.

* * *

**Khelgar:** sighs Talkin' to yer kin about what's in yer heart. Make fair sure they unnerstan' important things, make sure they know that you know what is important in this life.

Few things hurt more, tha' people you care for, thinkin' you've betrayed them, that you dinna care for 'em or honor your heritage.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Always have 2 different exits marked. Hells, hiding is all well and good, but you can't hide from a fireball or the undead that don't even have eyes. grins You saw my face when I found that out! And I still swear you snickered! Hiding behind the paladin works much better than that now.

Knowing when to cut your losses, waiting too long just gets you killed. There's always another mark, but dyin' kind of messes up your plans for tomorrow.

Not that I'm planning to cut out on you! But I'm pretty sure some, like the paladin or you, won't retreat first, but last.

* * *

**Qara**: Demonstrating my power and skill and repeating it, until I get the respect I deserve from all the cretins. Anytime I am with you boors, I have no more important business to tend to, so there is nothing to put off.

* * *

**Sand**: I find I must most likely agree with the ranger's answer must be: survival comes first. Magic, knowledge, advantage, and even comfort and grace don't matter much if you aren't alive to enjoy them. Survival, though, includes not just existence, as lichdom or whatever maintained the guardians of old kingdoms doesn't preserve the spirit and mind intact. Nor are the soul destroying requirements of certain kinds of service or pacts any better, thus being slowly drawn into the millstones to be ground into nothing.

All those things are not survival.

* * *

**Shandra:** Oh, I know this one. Finally. Fleeing a burning house.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: Understanding yourself. How could you even hope to make wise decisions about yourself and the world around you, if you cling to wrongness or error, instead of truth? When you know what is true to you, you know what is more important than mere survival and be able to correctly prioritize.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks to T.J. For this one... _


	30. Why are you here?

_Not a single one of these characters is mine, and the language is not always temperate. Their KC asked this one late night in the Keep, while passing time with a game. So these answers are during those games:_

**Why Are You Here?**

**Ammon:** Do not seek to distract either of us from this exercise. ((waves at the wooden board with a dozen markers already placed in nesting squares)) You need to be reminded of the need to anticipate your opponents, especially of older and more experienced ones. The King of the Shadows is not hot tempered or foolish like many of your previous foes. Placement and careful movement of your limited forces on **this** field is a good practice for the battles to come.

Fine, fine. I'll say it, even though you know my answer, it has been the same reason for longer than you have drawn breath.

You hold the other blessings of a dead people and the sword pieces. A sword oddly more effective than when I held it, despite it having been shattered. I will do whatever it takes, be wherever is required to end the shadowking, even deal with innocents such as you and your naive followers. I have sacrificed too much already to let it go. It's your move. ((points impatiently to the unplaced pieces.))

* * *

**Bishop:** ((grinning after capturing pieces)) Why else? Loot, booze, killing things, and someone to fuck at the end of the day. Not as many Luskans to kill as earlier, but the treasure is better, so I'll settle. We're even now, care to place a bet on the outcome? It'll spice the remaining game, and make for a good prize for the winning of only another pair more. It'll be a lot of fun. Hmm, always like watching you move, even if I'm not the only one to do so.

No bet? Too bad, I'll have to settle for that number over at the _Phoenix_ and winning the game. ((places piece to make a line of five tokens)) It would have been a lot of fun.

* * *

**Casavir:** Why? Only a fool would refuse this obvious a calling to service from the gods. This is a cause far more reaching than tribes of orcs. ((picks up the carved tower piece, examines it, and sets it down properly ahead of where it started)) Even aside from the worthiness of the cause, limiting the scope for harm from some who travel with us is also a worthy goal. I understand that they are necessary, but I regret that necessity.

And just as importantly, I pledged my service to **you**, my lady.Whatever you need: my shield, my weapon, or my life.

* * *

**Elanee:** ((scooping the beans from the six pairs of divots in the dirt and dividing them for a new game before sighing)) I admit I long to return and try to raise a new Circle. Sadly, that would mean nothing if the source of the corruption is still active and those of the Circle are not looking outward, only inward. I am here to help, even though my heart is elsewhere.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Eh? Because this is a warm room with good light and few cold drafts, for our game. ((grins and makes a throw)) My chance.

You want another answer, lady setter? My construct, new adventures, finding the Wendersnaven... traveling with you has been very rewarding. I have such lovely instruments now which we found along the way, even if I have to hide them away from the others sometimes. I am considering writing a requiem or elegy for some... even if a fresh Wendersnaven piece always gets me such a strong reaction. My, it seems I am at sixes and sevens, now. Perhaps I shouldn't bet it all. ((grins))

* * *

**Khelgar:** Because it is damn cold and the snow is deep, o' course. This be the time a year we count our gains, and drink a mug for those not with us anymore. ((glare)) Yer jumpin about the board like the fiendling now, dammit!

And hope they be drinkin' one for us as well, where they be. Heh, I be kinged even in th' game... We don' have enough fer a proper winter here: no great halls underground fer living an' training, though the ale's not too bad. Not enough lasses fer all the lads, nor younguns to remind us why we fight. But everyone here's a sprout but them elves, so it'll come eventually... Hah! Ye have no legal moves, I win.

* * *

**Neeshka**: No, no, you place the bet, not drop it to roll around the playing field. Even if you're being a bit chicken, to play with nuts instead of coins tonight... Why? I guess I like 'bout everyone here, and it's real nice that no one else is too rude. I've made enough I could open a small house of my own if I wanted the bother. I don't even have to watch my back against Greycloaks like Cormick anymore. Of course, these strange people keep trying to kill us...

Sure, I'll cover that bet, dice got no memory and I made my offering to Tymora. You ain't gonna get the horn... and you didn't. My turn. Mostly 'cause having friends is nicer, even if I have to play copper ante like this sometimes.

Huh, I guess you were smart to play with nuts, else you wouldn't have enough left now to pay your cook. ((grins))

* * *

**Qara**: I'm here only because I need more power to make those doddering fools take me seriously. You don't play by their rules, why should I have to wait until I am old and gray to get any respect. Hah, now I've got two jumpers.

You get respect, too much for someone without any real power or breeding. You're just a warrior, while I transform the world around me. I get scant respect for being in your retinue, but I'll move on to Waterdeep or somewhere else to make my own mark with my power and the treasure I've gotten. I refuse to stay here in your shadow, where there are only fools and their limitations on magic. What? My pieces are gone? You cheated!

* * *

**Sand**: I admit I sometimes wonder that myself. Mocking the foolish and finding amusement in the games of the young would not be enough, alone, to entice me to forsake my researches and experiments. My shop languishes with so little of my attention. Your move. While risky, I have also found more knowledge, profit, and power in including myself in your menagerie.

But whatever our foe really is, it is a far greater threat than petty smuggling and intrigues between two cities which are perpetually in contention. As vile as Luskan is, they are not the creeping miasma of death that flows from our more recent skirmishes. If both the races of gith are alarmed at developments, I suspect fleeing to anyplace in the Realms will not suffice, so making a stand early is wisest. Your lord is dead.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: Because your opponent is our opponent, too. Because the Sword is somehow integral to this war. Even though this land is strange, I will... Do I count the tokens in these bowls, circling in which direction again?

I will stay until the end, and perhaps be able to salvage part of my duty afterwards. I'm not sure I understand the point of using seed for this instead of pebbles, unless you wish to prevent their use for another purpose, such as cooking by the small bard.

* * *

_A/N: bonus points if you know which games they've been passing time with... for the riddler: 1 win, 4 losses, and 5 indeterminate._


	31. Turnabout is Fair Play

_Not a single one of these characters is mine, and they will be returned later. Their their KC had different kind of question this time:_

**To be fair, what question have you wondered about me?**

**Ammon:** How have you accomplished any of the things you have, like ruining my Haven like a hoard of locusts, let alone remained sane, with this rabble you keep around you?

((smiles)) Ah, so you **glare** at me, girl. Be more careful about the openings you offer then. The king will not cavil to take advantage of the weaknesses of your little pets, and you have allowed them to grow powerful and equipped them. Do not be so soft to think he won't find or make those weaknesses.

* * *

**Bishop:** Why do you stay here with all the shit they keep dumping on you? We could be out of here so far, they've never even heard of this city.

Don't give me that shit, you're a convenient pawn to them, and you'll be brushed off the board as soon as your usefulness has passed.

* * *

**Casavir:** If I may ask, my lady, on such a brief acquaintance, what god or gods do you honor? Why, or even why not?

* * *

**Elanee:** Do you think the rest of the people in your village will leave? The sickened area spreads, even affecting the canny members of my circle. I fear they will have no defense.

Yes, that loss of vibrancy would be evident for years. Yet they stay? I see you come by your stubbornness honestly. I pray we can stop it before another disaster swallows up such a village.

* * *

**Grobnar:** You do realize this trial will make a marvelous ballad, don't you? Maybe several of them.

I'm not sure how much of the whys to include, those details my colleagues don't know. Don't you worry about my compositional skill, I've won contests with my Wendersnaven tunes. I'll be sure to play them for you when I'm satisfied with them.

* * *

**Khelgar:** Lass, why do ye put up with it? How do ye manage to not smack 'em? The snide wizard and the spoiled brat, the young paladin and the ass ranger? ((shakes head)) I dinna know how I'm gonna settle the hotheads in me clan.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Wanna go out and find some fun? No rain tonight, and we can take a high road for the views. Leave the bickering behind, and the morning people in bed. There's gotta be a good show tonight somewhere, or we can find a game.

Sheesh, I wasn't gonna suggest that, I know better. Great, let's go.

* * *

**Qara**: Why should I wonder anything about **you**? You're the special hero who sent the Luskans packing again. And you're from a swamp yet, others could have sent them away faster than that.

* * *

**Sand**: Have you ever considered how that shard you have, seems to be leaking magic? I suspect that your piece acts as a keystone, explaining why the other pieces didn't have much magic when separated from it. I wonder what else the original metal object originally did? What the effects of it have been on you, as long as you've had it? This is not the short term effects of a beneficial item like a magic ring or even earring. Even in pieces, these are still interesting powers, much like some of the legendary artifacts in ancient lore. Some of the powerful ones I've read of, required amputation to gain those powers. You seen hale enough.

It really is too bad I cannot examine that shard more directly. I have not been able to examine an artifact personally.

* * *

**Shandra:** What's life in a swamp like? Can you even grow food, or do you have to live off the land? Covered in stinky muck and eating lizards. Uggh, that sounds worse than cleaning out a stable.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: How can there be so many small lives crowded everywhere? Domains where powers hold sway, may not have this... multitude of birds and voles and even the stinging insects. But here there are competing powers and no one has dominion, and so these small creature go about their own lives. Some places I have known, have only a surface or skin of the life that is here...

* * *

_A/N: Sometimes your questions can be as revealing as your answers..._


	32. What Job Is Useless?

_Not a single one of the characters speaking here is mine, and their KC asked this question in a slow moment:_

**What is the most useless job there is?**

**Ammon:** I suppose I could answer this with irony, and indicate some amusing futility in the actions of little people who have to clean up after this band has passed through. As the owner of one of the locations this set of locusts ruined, you are all very... good at evading that kind of little chore. And none of you have bothered learning those skills to ensure there is enough help to get that work done.

But no, I consider those who cling to their purity. There is far more power and effectiveness as a consequence of deals with the lower planes. Bargains for celestial power are far more difficult to acquire, and only half-hearted. If you cannot accomplish your goals, for being faint-willed, you are useless.

* * *

**Bishop:** Being in the nobility. After their pretty clothing, pretty airs, and pretty useless pets, they can't even manage to shoot a deer quietly, let alone wipe their asses. They buy and sell their children the same way Luskan slavers do. They just pretend they're better.

* * *

**Casavir:** Planning pensions and bequests for an evil cult or warlord.

* * *

**Elanee:** I doubt there are any truly useless workers or work. Surely providing for their families gives them a kind of dignity, no matter how small the duty. There are many vocations I would prefer did not exist, such as logger, but the forest lives on as long as they are careful and not greedy. The most useless jobs are those that are evil to their core, such as torturer.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Are there any useless jobs? What one may think as a useless job, like composing Wendersnaven music, is highly valued by others. More important perhaps, is following what your heart wants and ignoring the doubters.

* * *

**Khelgar:** It's nae job, but 'tis very worthless and stinks of cowardice an' dishonor. Brigands and scum that destroy everythin' in their path, whether pirates or armies. Takin' lands in battle be one thing, but razing an killin' those who canna fight... That be one definition of evil, lass.

* * *

**Neeshka**: Locksmith or trapmaker if I'm on the job. They'd save a lot of money and bother if they'd just leave their stuff unlocked. I don't take everything and beggaring themselves means less I can ta... er, could have taken.

* * *

**Qara**: Instructor of magic, for the crippled ones who cannot touch it themselves.

* * *

**Sand**: I think 'job' may not be the best word for this inquiry, as many things that are done or not done well, do not involve an employer and worker relationship. But if I understand your intent, the answer is very clear. Work becomes useless when it is not only unneeded but also counterproductive. Several in our little circle have lost much of their effectiveness due to poor decisions they have made and continue to cling to. Some can't or won't see more than what their blinkers blind them to.

As nearly all here are still relatively young, I do entertain hopes they will choose better, between what they hope and what truly is.

Hmm, there are many ceremonial positions in any society or court that are relics of earlier times. They rarely have any use, when viewed objectively. Those kinds of positions, such a chief torchlighter in a city that uses continual flame magics are obvious, even if harmless. More useless are those who allow themselves, perhaps without intending to, become marginalized because they are more dangerous than useful. So yes, the sorceress is an example of someone who has made herself useless by her anger and lack of control.

* * *

**Shandra:** Barn painter for the Jerro farm? I dunno. I'd always thought the occasional adventurer who wandered through the farm was pretty useless. They didn't grow anything, make anything useful, or even create something. Now I wonder. When you grew up in a peaceful place, where monsters like gith or orcs were only stories, adventurers trampled the crops or even stole animals. Some even would be ruder to some women in Highcliff, but they were taken care of by us farmers. Now I see that, even if arriving late, who else comes at all to help outlying places where there is no army or mage tower?

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: I do not know that any job is truly useless. Only those people who have lost their way and do nothing in their fear.

* * *


	33. Favorite Color?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their KC asked this after a dull march:_

**What color do you like best, and why?**

**Ammon:** Carmine, if you must know. The color of blood and power that comes from it. None of the half-hearted roses, and apples and berries, but the crimson of things taken seriously. That slight tint of darkness of permanence and dedication, meaning you won't flee and hide, as I'm sure someone has suggested to you, Commander.

* * *

**Bishop:** Greens: moss, blue spruce, dark pine, new grass and spring cress, all the colors in the first hunt after winter has finally broken.

* * *

**Casavir:** Blue. While it is a color favored by many of us, and I like many blues from the bright blue of a summer sky to the darker blue at sunset to the grey-blue of the ocean horizon. Best I treasure the color of His divine favor.

* * *

**Elanee:** The almost glowing yellow-green of a healthy skim on still and quiet waters. The sign of a healthy land unstained by the taint of unlife.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Purple! Bright and cheery and bold. Most purples are uncommon in nature and have to be coaxed from rare sources. An obvious metaphor for any of the arts, what real artistry can come from dullness and depression of duns and blacks?

* * *

**Khelgar:** Bah! Carin' about the colors of things? You've been talking to the elf agin'.

* * *

**Neeshka**: ((grin)) gold and platinum, of course. Gems and magic don't really have a single color and are harder to sell in a hurry.

* * *

**Qara**: Blue-white, the colors of the hottest flames, that would melt your pretty sword to slag.

* * *

**Sand:** Best? Why should there even be a best? Isn't there enough competition to keep you distracted? Sometimes color calms, sometimes color enhances, sometimes color can be used to influence the reception and even perception. So like any other tool, it must be carefully selected to be most effective.

Wear whatever color pleases you, I prefer to wear jewel tones if the quality is sufficient. Which shade matters little. But for this trial, you **will** wear the color and style of dress I recommend.

* * *

**Shandra:** Well, blondes are supposed to like pinks or blues so we can look dainty. But colors have never made my life easier like that. Maybe the fools in Highcliff might have done something useful if I had been petite and quiet and helpless, but I suspect I would have had scoundrels trying to move in and claim my land as well. I prefer the good honest brown of a field of wheat, ready to harvest.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: Silver. Not the color of the metal used in mundane coins in places like Neverwinter, but the far more important things like silver cords, gates, and the astral plane.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for the idea!_


	34. Can You Drown in Waters of Immortality?

_Not a single one of these characters is mine, and their KC asked this puzzler as a distraction:_

**Can someone drown in a fountain of eternal life?**

**Ammon:** Of course. ((glares)) Inadequate planning predicates foolishness like this. No magical effect will happen if the elixir is not properly ingested, and drowning is certainly not that. Perhaps you should consider the costs of that water before approaching.

* * *

**Bishop:** Heh. That's a nicely cynical question, there may be a point to these things of yours, if I get a laugh at least out of them. You should laugh more at the idiots like that.

Nah, if there really were 'divinely beautiful magics' that make everything wonderful for the suckers, I'd be right there to watch the guy drown and laugh my ass off. But you can't drown in something that doesn't exist.

* * *

**Casavir:** I do not believe so, as that fountain would not merely contain water, but a palpable blessing. You cannot drown from blessings. ((smiles))

* * *

**Elanee:** Water and nature are always forces to respect and beware of. Many die foolishly when flood waters rise, or in places they assumed were benign. Life is a power not to be taken for granted. So yes, someone could drown in that fountain if they were that unwise.

* * *

**Grobnar:** No, I don't think so. Why wouldn't you be able to breath the water instead of air if it sustains life? Lungs are already quite damp, and sea elves can breath seawater. Breathing water would be such an interesting experience, and exploring a sunken ship or a secret city would make an exciting adventure tale... ((wanders off, whistling a shanty))

* * *

**Khelgar:** Not if the fountain has been properly laid out, as then it would not have any pools deep enough to drown anything larger than an insect. Only a daft builder doesn't allow for accidents with children or pets, and I doubt the water flow would be great enough to warrant a deep enough pool for bathing or that drowning.

* * *

**Neeshka**: I guess you could. I guess it would be too much to hope for me to be able to fill up a keg and sell it in Neverwinter or Waterdeep. Fountains like that are too stingy to let ya take it with you.

I wonder if drinking it is permanent, or if you have to live beside the fountain for the rest of a long life? That would be really boring, though visitors might make things more fun. Maybe I could charge them for their drinks, I could build up quite a pile then.

((fiddles with a slim tool)) Though with our luck lately, either gith or shadows would pop out of the ground or the water would be all minerally and taste of sulphur...

* * *

**Qara**: No, isn't it obvious? This fountain is pure magic and power, powerful enough to give life. Just seize and use that power, and ignore the timid fools who lose the power they are afraid to take for themselves.

* * *

**Sand**: I do not believe that drowning is possible as the healing properties should be as powerful or more powerful than mere drowning.

With that, that doesn't mean a fountain such as that would not be deadly in its way. Consider the effects of such a fountain on undead, even the few benevolent types. And archlich would be eradicated by such a fountain, whether it would be brought back to life, or simply erased by the powerful positive energies present.

* * *

**Shandra:** I guess you could if you tried hard enough, ((shakes head)) but it would take a special kind of stupid to do that.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: Any force can be taken to extreme, enough to be dangerous. Consider the elemental planes of water, fire, and earth; all can be benevolent here, but fatal beyond the Prime. This fountain can be both benevolent and dangerous, such is the power of paradox that includes drowning in life.

* * *


	35. What is Worth Living For?

_Not a single one of the characters is mine, and their Knight Commander asked this in the final days of the war. Language warning._

_- - x - -_

_It's been a long road now, since we've met, and an unexpected war. I wonder what's keeping you going through all this? ((waves at the bustling keep)) _

**What do you have worth living for?**

**Ammon:** Nothing really, once I've finished with this. The only thing I have to live for is delaying the rather painful consequences once I die. Once I might have thought to return to my family, my studies, or even my peers. My family died before me, and because of me. My studies? I know more than what some could even remain sane knowing; I have no need to learn more now. My peers? Sand is perhaps is the only one I consider a peer now, even if he has occasional annoying lapses into morality. Those who were my peers once, are now dead or pathetic like Aldanon. So what is left to me?

What will be left afterwards for you? Once the emergency is over and you are no longer the focus of other players or a useful tool, and the others turn on you for the conflicts you've managed to suppress.

* * *

**Bishop:** ((Smiles smugly)) You have to ask that? I think I've made it pretty clear who I want, what I want. What I look forward to is the next kill, the next payment, the next buzz, and the next fuck. Those make my life worth living, not the delusions of something else giving you anything out of generosity or ever receiving something as imaginary as gratitude. Everything costs, costs you sooner or later, usually too much. I like knowing the costs.

Those are things worth living for. Them and freedom from the kinds of shit you've allowed yourself to be tied to, like the fool paladin. I thought you were smarter than that, but now I'm wondering.

* * *

**Casavir:** I hope you are not speaking of mere objects? Good. ((Looks away)) My pledges help me find the strength to continue. My oaths to Tyr and my more recent pledge to support you in this war, whatever comes, my lady.

My hopes are beacons in this dark landscape, littered with the dark remains of those who should justly have gone to their final reward. Hopes that dark forces and people will be removed as threats to the people and world. Hopes for fairness and justice for those who have no voice. Hopes that someday... someday I will be able to hang up my shield as I am not needed anymore and live as any other one of the faithful in peace and family. ((slight smile)) Not that different than the hopes of many other fighters for the light, correct, my lady? Those are the hopes that keep us going: doing what is right, and a just happiness at the end of the day.

* * *

**Elanee:** I live to serve Nature, in all its faces, large and small. The predator, the prey, the towering trees as much as the slimy algae that floats, the very face of the land, as weather erodes it over the centuries or islands growing in the river from beaver lodges abandoned long ago. Life goes on, even if challenged by so many threats.

While Nature doesn't care about mines or farms, some kinds of change do not come at a natural pace. Undead smother and blight all life, and those kinds that think they are clever are not as eternal as they think. Stopping that blight and later aiding the land's recovery will rebalance the nature. Most enemies and monsters do have a place in that whole, even as they may not understand and harm more than a hunt. But they are only a blink in the eye of Nature, and pass quickly enough.

Evil and undeath are not satisfied with the hunt of Nature, but want all to be as dead as they are, whether inner or outer. Bringing them back into the cycle of life and living, so their shells eventually nourish the future is part of wise guardianship. Perhaps some will return to living, without dying first.

* * *

**Grobnar:** Worth living for? Learning and telling what I learn to others, keeps me busy... Did I tell you that the Wendersnaven in its courting rituals will often display its surpassing skill at certain activities...

Commander! That arm pinch was unnecessary, I'll answer your question.

The art of music consoled and uplifted me in a troubled time once. Music in all its forms, whether pleasant or not, speaks to people in a way they aren't always aware of, even in a non-magical area. What other magic can do that? I want to speak like that for things I have seen, as well as those I have not. What better way to help others than with music?

* * *

**Khelgar:** Honor, duty, doing my Ironfist ancestors proud, and helping my friends. My people don't fritter our time away changing our vocations every decade or century, once we find our calling we don't abandon it. I'll always enjoy a good brawl, but I know better now when to let 'em go when not to be a fool in seeking them.

I guess my lesson made it through me skull, when I saw how the old Guardian did not let go. Being steadfast is one thing. Against great evil and foes it is the most important thing. But he be only making new foes, blindly fighting for no damn reason. This I will remember when I return to my clan so we can build a new future.

* * *

**Neeshka**: That's a strange one, as if I'd wanna list the things I have that make me want to die. I'd just get rid of them, easy as you want. As much as my blood has been a pain, the way it sets off the idiots, I don't wanna be anything else, or pretend to be something else.

The treasure has been good lately, even if things we fight are much scarier than a few thugs around the docks. But even planning how I'll spend future treasure isn't enough to keep me around, I can always get more if I wanted to, other ways. I just like having friends, and would really hate not know what happened. A lot of things I've seen, I would have bet once could never have happened! ((grins))

* * *

**Qara**: I don't need to **have** anything to be important or powerful. I am power... or a growing power at least. Academics and book mages need to have **things** to prop up their power. But that comes from their own doubt and lack of connection to the Weave. I don't need mere things for my power, it is part of me, flesh and bone. As that power grows, despite all the doubters, I will blaze my mark on Neverwinter first, showing those academics they were wrong about me. Then beyond, someplace where the wealthy and influential will finally value that power.

I think I'll pick a new family name, as they are not family. I think maybe Elexand or Arderey... I think either of them sounds good.

* * *

**Sand**: Life itself is worth living, there is no other answer. Life is, and needs no reason to be. All other things pass with time, whether objects or people. Our enemy did not accept this, and now he seeks to end life itself.

What things do I value enough to motivate me in other ways? Knowledge, magic, and the intricacies of the law and how it can be applied and misapplied, all are fascinating. These will continue to be fascinating when I'm afraid you will be dust. Other things I enjoy and value, ranging from a glass of fine wine, to finely crafted fabrics, to the intricacies of multiple voices in song, are transient enough to be of great value, especially because they are ephemeral. They are not the reasons to live, but part of living.

* * *

**Zhjaeve**: Wisdom and understanding provide enough meaning for any lifetime. Knowing, knowing and believing is what makes and sustains the Great Wheel. My people make homes on remnants of failed beliefs in the astral. I will return to them someday, with the knowledge I have gained.

Someone, maybe even the One, believes in the King of Shadows, so we must deal with him in the physical realm, instead of the metaphysical one. But Commander, **believe that you will defeat him**, and the Multiverse will bend to that belief.

* * *

_A/N: This is the final actual riddle, and I want to thank everyone who's come along for the ride and suggested ideas, even if they didn't necessarily work out. An entirely optional epilogue will be the last chapter, with the mirroring answers to these questions, which their Knight Commander gave off-stage before._


	36. Epilogue: the Knight Commander's Answers

_Only this single character is mine, and this epilogue is her answers to all the questions she asked her companions in the previous chapters. They are sometimes less than genteel answers:_

**Is the Glass Half-full or Half-empty?**

Yes. Well, the paradox depends on your mood, and I've certainly seen it both ways. So both are true as they're the same.

* * *

_A harsh barbarian king gets his jollies watching the accused in a trial choose, unknowing, between instant death and rich reward. But a commoner dared to become his daughter's lover, so he was condemned to this spectacle. The princess discovered which door had the fierce tiger, and which had another lady to marry. The princess is fierce as well, and harsh as her father, that what is hers, is hers alone, but she also is very...attached to her young and handsome lover._

**Which door does she hint her lover towards: the Lady or the Tiger?**

The lady. Losing him for a time, but retaining the possibility of getting him back is worth a little delayed gratification. You can hope he's loyal, but that chance for a good outcome is far better than watching him die. Then all you have are regrets. I've spent enough years seeing my foster father being consumed by regrets and loss, too many to **not** try and avoid it.

* * *

**What wouldn't you do for a million gold pieces?**

Shit, lots of things, I could fill a long scroll with things I wouldn't do. Evil things, like torture, rape, mind control, rampant careless destruction and cruelty and all their variants.

There are many things, not evil, I don't think I'd do either. Becoming a postulant of one of the more... orderly temples. Actually becoming a postulant of any god, I can't see myself as a priest, and that's not the kind of thing you want to fake. I'd hope I wouldn't take up more criminal work, out of some kind of desperation. Most people can't afford losses, like what would be too easy for me to do. I wouldn't work in a festhall, that's **definitely** something I wouldn't do for money. I don't want to marry into the nobility and have some grand title or trappings or anything, I think being in Blacklake makes me twitch like Neeshka around paladins...

* * *

**How is a Raven Like a Writing Desk?**

They both can make loud noises when you try to take shiny things away from them. Of course the desk would do that more if it was magical or creaky, not a modest desk. But them modest desks don't usually have the best loot.

Come to think of it, I think Neeshka is like both the raven and the desk, as she'd squawk too. ((smile))

* * *

**When you go into the afterlife, do you wear the clothes you were buried in forever?**

I hope not, as they'd get all mucky as your body slowly rots away. Unless everyone floats around the afterlife buck naked, a light fabric, mental clothing, or putting on clothing would be nice. Maybe I'll need to spend a century or so learning how to knit or weave clothing for myself, as I couldn't do it now if you put a weapon to my throat.

* * *

**Can you catch flies?**

I guess, they aren't always that fast when they get cold. Sometimes they tickle.

* * *

**What is it that you can keep, after giving to someone else?**

Your affections. Even if they are asses and leave, or you find you're wrong. You can try again when you meet someone else once it stops hurting. You don't run out.

* * *

_Setting: On a warm and sunny early summer day, you've decided to wash in a cheerfully burbling stream in an open meadow. Your clothing and equipment are a little too far away when you get unexpected company. What do you grab to cover or protect yourself?_

**What do you grab?**

Well, my clothing, armor or best, my cloak, would be fairly close. I sure would not have wandered over the meadow without clothing. If it were now, I could hide until I was alone, earlier, dive for the cloak.

* * *

**How will this end?**

In pain.

* * *

**How Many Orcs Does It Take to Get Water From a Well?**

One, I don't think they're **that** dumb.

* * *

**What Do You Want?**

Hells, everything and nothing. I want all the asses like Garius, his allies, and the nightmare he rode in on to go take a flying leap into the Abyss. There's enough to make people's lives tough enough without the delusions of power hungry. I really hope we can stop this avalanche without us all getting killed.

And I really wish I'd really had a choice about it. I was drafted for this war before I could speak coherently. Does becoming a 'Hero' or defeating an evil mean anything, when I had so few alternatives? I wish I could have had the quiet of a normal woman's life, but survival and sometimes trying to make a difference are the goads that are driving me until this ends.

* * *

_You use me from your head to your toes, and the more you use me the thinner I grow..._

**What am I?**

Soap, or maybe a bar of sootblack if you really want to remain hidden and don't mind looking like a miner for the next few days.

* * *

**What are the three worst poisons?**

Don't know much about poisons, just what to avoid in the Mere. I don't even remember what hardly any are called. As they can usually be cured by a good priest or alchemist, other kinds of poisons are much worse. The kinds no magic can help with, except to make them worse.

Self-doubt, despair, fear, anger, power-hunger, considering others to be less value than a herd of deer or your convenience, arrogance in power... Pick any three, as they can paralyze and destroy you as much as any poison.

* * *

_People die for many reasons, sometimes just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But sometimes they choose and accept that end. What things are important to you?_

**What Do You Have That is Worth Dying For?**

I really own so little, pretty much what I can carry. I can't even afford to get attached to my horse. So many of 'em have already died. Pretty toys, like my weapons and armor and magic? They can be replaced. The keep really isn't mine. So what do I really have?

To save my friends, yeah. If I could just wish myself to a confrontation with the head jerk, and end us both now, that would be worth dying, that my friends would be safe. For friends, and friends unmet or lost along the way, yeah. Not that I'm gonna be ecstatic about dying, I'd really rather live.

* * *

**Who Are You?**

Unless I've forgotten something, I'm Elondra Whyntll. I wonder if Grobnar would act any different if I said I thought my unknown sire was a wendersnaven. I do think that would make him quiet for a while, wouldn't it? (grin)

I've been a lot of things already, and I really don't know where I'm going some days. I'm a survivor of a horrible battle, and ward of a grieving elf. Student and pest. Militia member and trickster. Fighter and errand girl. Kick-ass, mediator, and peacemaker. Stubborn wench and skulker in shadows. Leader and pawn. I hope I've been a good friend, but I take them into such danger I feel so guilty sometimes.

* * *

**What Makes You Laugh?**

Lots of things, now. My humor has gotten so black these days, that opponents' threatening speeches only make me want to giggle sometimes. They're so absurd. I love a good joke, a good and not mean prank, and a clumsy fall. I always have. But I rarely hear those kinds of things anymore, so I have to laugh at the surreal and absurd, or the tragedies all around will consume me.

* * *

_You are in some situation, combat or otherwise, where no option you can see, as to what to do next is really acceptable._

**What do you do next?**

Try to find a third option. And if both are equally bad, or the time is short, don't deny what little choice is mine to refuse to choose. Then I pick the one that appears the least harmful and pray I've chosen well.

* * *

**Where Does Revenge End and Justice Begin?**

I wish I knew. Justice is not just the laws, else Luskan or Thay could be seen as just. Justice is more than the law, as much as I'd would hate to have that argument with some. Some evade the law, and some law is not just, so how can justice be purely defined? And if justice among the living is corrupted, is revenge always wrong?

But revenge is much more easily warped than justice because it has no standard and no limit. Tit for tat, feuds through generations, until orcs and elves can't even consider a common ground. Revenge, or worse, genocide, as the ultimate form of that kind of revenge. Revenge is often blind.

Endings and beginnings of justice and revenge are intermingled. Try for justice, revenge if justice has been screwed.

* * *

**What Are the Five Most Important Gifts from the Gods?**

I don't think they give most of us anything directly tangible, not that these gifts aren't important. Some things they can't give us, like love or hate, we do that ourselves. Life, health, blessings, inspiration, and most importantly, hope.

* * *

**What do lazy dogs do for fun?**

Sleep on your foot, like a very heavy sack of wheat.

* * *

**If you were to die tonight, what would you regret? What would you do about that?**

My biggest regrets are for things I couldn't change here tonight if I wanted to. I might tell a few some things they need to hear, or I would like them to know.

* * *

**What good memory do you have, that you think you might remember of all this, **

**once this damn thing is all over?**

The best one would be us all getting out of this alive, but I kind of doubt that one. Other memories would be the small moments: a sunset over the mountain after I'd expected to be crispy, a tumble when I'd been sure I had good footing, an infectious round that I can't get out of my head for hours, a giggle fit late at night, scoring a hit on an enemy I'd feared, the excitement when a piece of the problem became clear, a warm voice during a night watch when I was cold and tired... all the little moments that have kept me from going nuts.

* * *

**What monsters do you hate most?**

The worst are the ones who chose to be dark, eyes wide open, not caring. So, it would be power hungry evil mages and the like, usually human. Power doesn't help you sleep, or keep you warm at night.

Oh, I hate lots of monsters, but usually only the ones busy trying to kill me or others at the time. But to hate them the most would give them more importance, than just necessity for the people I want to help or protect. If I had to pick one type, it would probably have to be the githyanki for being evil and so damn shortsighted. They're like rats, they kept popping up, over and over, pursuing me for their own stupidity. Hating undead is like hating cockroaches, pointless, as they're only shells. It's the ones who choose to slaughter a village for one weapon, twist and corrupt others, or seek genocide for those who offend them... those kind of people really need to learn empathy and that it's not all about them.

* * *

**Which came first, the chicken or the egg?**

I guess the egg. If you crossbreed two breeds of chickens, the egg with the new breed is the first of its kind.

* * *

**Who would you turn to if you if you needed help desperately?**

My friends. ((sighs)) Most likely Casavir or Neeshka, depending on the problem.

* * *

**What is the strongest craving you get?**

It's almost always for some kind of food or drink, usually the kinds that don't travel well. Fresh milk, something crunchy and salty, or Lazlo's mead. A lot of the time lately, it's just for a long, uninterrupted night of sleep.

* * *

_You're alone, and you want to get from one side of a crevice to another, and there is no bridge. The crevice is too deep to jump, maybe a hundred feet deep and a hundred feet across. The only things you have to help you, beyond what you carry, is a ladder that's, oh, four yards tall, and a lot of rope. No, going around is a bad idea. You can use as much rope as you like, pretend you have some decanter of endless quality rope._

**How do you get to the other side?**

Wrap the rope around the ladder, until I have the equivalent of a ball of yarn around the ladder core, leaving it just loose enough to wriggle into the center, and then roll down the side. Wriggle out, or cut my way out and get the ladder out too. At the other side of the crevice, I'd just climb the crevice, using a spike and some rope to anchor me every ten feet so I won't fall far even if I slip. I could have done that going down, but rolling down inside a giant ball of string sounds like fun. I'm sure I can almost hear Grobnar laughing as he rolls down.

Oh yeah, haul up the rope and lean it against the first tree I find on the other side. Just for style.

* * *

**What is your favorite kind of singing?**

I'm kind of a sucker for a good ballad, but preferably not a tragedy.

* * *

**What kind of things are important to do immediately? **

**What should never be put off until the next day?**

Bandaging and healing, you never know when another group of enemies will be attracted by the sounds of the first fight. Secondly, trying to help a friend, some things fester if left alone.

* * *

**Why Are You Here?**

I'm here because one addlebrain an age ago lost sight of what he was protecting, and others more recently tried to either piggyback on his power or stop him, regardless of anyone else. They're all nuts, we're all just trying to clean up their mess. I didn't have much choice in starting in this war, but I hope to see its end.

* * *

**To be fair, what question have you wondered about me?**

I wasn't quite sure if I should answer this one, as I don't really have any questions about myself that I can answer and sometimes I talk to myself too much already. But when the bickering gets especially annoying, I wonder if I'm insane.

* * *

**What is the most useless job there is?**

There are lots of useless jobs: head cook for Garius, hair trimmer for Nasher, maker of cosmetics for gith, lamplighter to the king of shadows... I could even list gallows humor jobs like West Harbor farmer, Ember welcoming party, or Luskan good will ambassador.

Some would say adventurers are pretty useless, as we... they don't usually have anyone they really answer to and don't fit in well within in a military hierarchy that would make others more comfortable. As the only ones still standing after some battle or war, who else can they blame? Even if it's stupid, might as well blame the nature gods for a hailstorm. I think I'd like to be that kind of useless: unneeded and living quietly.

* * *

**What color do you like best, and why?**

Grey. Grey kind of contains all colors, doesn't it? Black and white and all the shades in between. White can be a pain as then you spend way too much time trying to get spots out. Black gets all too depressing, even if you don't have to worry about colors clashing. It's kind of hard to blend in if you keep having bright purple, pumpkin orange, and candy apple red in your clothing. But a nice mellow grey is restful and quiet.

* * *

**Can someone drown in a fountain of eternal life?**

Wouldn't that be against the whole reason for a fountain like that to exist? How would the fountain come to be, anyway? Could a violent death maybe even end the fountain, like a desecration? Not that I would want to do that, but the idea of a fountain like this under the control of some evil asshole makes me sick.

So yeah, I think it's possible to die. Just because there is a gift doesn't mean someone will not manage to misuse it.

* * *

_It's been a long road now, since we've met, and I wonder what's keeping you going through all this ((waves))_

**What do you have worth living for?**

I don't really regret leaving West Harbor, I always wanted something I never found there. I've found and acquired so many things along the way, even things I never really desired like a tumbledown keep. But they are only things, easily broken, lost, or... "acquired" by some enterprising professional. ((grin))

They certainly aren't worth living for, so I guess it comes down to wanting to do things before moving on. Some of those things can never happen now, and others won't, but once this is over I have so many matters I've put off or put aside. Trying to do them all will keep me busy for a long while, starting with kicking the corpse of our opponent

* * *

_A/N: I agreed with one reader that this was a good idea, and want to thank them for this final closing epilogue. I didn't want to use it before the end as I wished to make the riddles as a whole about the companions' views and keep their KC out of them._


End file.
